Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: A non-medically directed CRNA took the patient into the operating room. He placed the patient on monitors, intubated, and induced the patient. Then the anesthesiologist came into the room and placed an arterial line and CVP before the case started. How do we calculate the time the physician took to place the lines?

New Mexico Subscriber

Answer: Deduct the time spent placing the arterial line and CVP from the total anesthesia time, and bill the lines under the physician's ID. For example, you might submit 36620 (Arterial catheterization or cannulation for sampling, monitoring or transfusion [separate procedure]; percutaneous) for the [...]

- Published on 2011-11-07