Wiki stimulator reprogramming when doctor is not there

[beckmanj]

If a doctor is not present during a spinal stimulator reprogramming (not even in the building) who bills the reprogramming? The tech that comes to do it?

 

[dwaldman]

There would be no charge for this encounter. The tech is not an employee of the physician's office or facility. The physician office/facility is not incurring notable costs by the tech doing the programming. The Manufacturer provides the tech to come to facility free of charge and they would not bill for it if the physician was not there. If you look at CPT Assistant article around 1993 when they are talking about examples of use of 95972. They only reference the physician performing the programming. They never mention a scenario where the physician is "supervising" or "participating" in the programming. It hard for me to understand justifing the office/facility receiving a service for free and then receiving around 60-70 dollars for it just because there is a code out there that describes it even though the physician does not perform it. I don't bill 95792