Cataract procedure w/anesthesia

[jlherndon]

We bill for anesthesia group that provides service during cataract procedures. Example: Anesthesia preforms pre-anest eval; is in the or monitoring patients vitals and is avalible at all times during procedure. Patient does not want any type of sedation, what code would you bill for the anesthesia service?


Thank you
Jennie

[mcnaryk]

Originally Posted by jlherndon

We bill for anesthesia group that provides service during cataract procedures. Example: Anesthesia preforms pre-anest eval; is in the or monitoring patients vitals and is avalible at all times during procedure. Patient does not want any type of sedation, what code would you bill for the anesthesia service?


Thank you
Jennie

That's an unusual situation-I think I would bill the appropriate E/M code. In my experience our anesthesia group would administer and bill for MAC anesthesia, and we would bill 00142 with the start and stop time. If your providers are not administering any anesthesia, just 'standing by', but they did SEE the patient for the pre-eval/workup, I would bill an E/M.

[jlherndon]

would you possibly look at the moderate sedation codes(99143-99150)?


Originally Posted by jlherndon
We bill for anesthesia group that provides service during cataract procedures. Example: Anesthesia preforms pre-anest eval; is in the or monitoring patients vitals and is avalible at all times during procedure. Patient does not want any type of sedation, what code would you bill for the anesthesia service?


Thank you
Jennie

That's an unusual situation-I think I would bill the appropriate E/M code. In my experience our anesthesia group would administer and bill for MAC anesthesia, and we would bill 00142 with the start and stop time. If your providers are not administering any anesthesia, just 'standing by', but they did SEE the patient for the pre-eval/workup, I would bill an E/M.
07-16-2012 09:23 AM
jlherndon Cataract procedure w/anesthesia

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We bill for anesthesia group that provides service during cataract procedures. Example: Anesthesia preforms pre-anest eval; is in the or monitoring patients vitals and is avalible at all times during procedure. Patient does not want any type of sedation, what code would you bill for the anesthesia service?


Thank you
Jennie

[mcnaryk]

With the information given, it does not appear that the patient is receiving any sedation, so I would not use a moderate sedation code. An E/M should suffice for the services rendered, provided the documentation is there. The codes from 99143-99150 are for cases of "drug-induced depression of consciousness", so drugs given, which if I am understanding your post, the patients are refusing sedation.

[DHouston]

In my experience, a retrobulbar injection (or numbing eye drops) are used for the anesthesia with MAC. However, you would need to determine whether the drops were placed by the anesthesiologist or by the surgeon. So even without MAC, you can use 04 - Regional block for this procedure.