Wiki prolonged care and procedure

[nikki_coder]

Here's the scenerio. The physician is called to place an IV. They are unsuccessful after multiple attempts. They document in their note that they spent 45 minutes with the patient. Would it be wrong to code an e/m service based on their documentation and then also bill a prolonged service for the extended time they spent? Or would it be correct to bill the procedure service with the -52 modifier? Just seems kind of wrong to reduce the service (that is already such a small charge) when they spent so much time. Are there any other options on how to code this scenerio?

any thoughts?

 

[aaron.lucas]

I'm not entirely sure, but I would think the prolonged service code would not be appropriate. Those codes are mostly to report extended time spent on things like review of records and coordination of care, which isn't really what was happening. I would use the procedure with -52.