Just Coding: Challenges Facing Anesthesia Coders

Anesthesia coders know the challenges faced each day, with “time” being at the top of that list. AAPC member Judy Wilson, CPC, CPC-H, CPCO, CPC-P, CANPC, CPC-I, CMRS, wrote about this, and several of these challenges, in a recent Just Coding article.

“To correctly report anesthesia time, coders need to bill for the services provided by the anesthesiologist who spent the longest time on the case. They also must be careful when rounding time up or down,” she wrote. “Medicare wants start and stop time to be reported to the nearest minute. If high numbers of cases begin or end on the “5-minute mark,” that practice could become the proud winner of an audit.”