Anesthesia Coding Alert

You decide how influential these new codes will be for your practice CPT 2005 has beefed up its Category III section. Check out this rundown of the new additions to see if your practice sees enough of these patients that you should clip and save this list. 0074T - Online evaluation and management service, per encounter, provided by a physician, using the Internet or similar electronic communications network, in response to a patient's request, established patient. Coders could actually begin using this code July 1, 2004, but CPT 2005 is the first edition to include it. It applies to physicians who use online E/M services. Some pain management physicians might provide this service, says Scott Groudine, MD, an Albany, N.Y., anesthesiologist.

0062T - Percutaneous intradiscal annuloplasty, any method, unilateral or bilateral including fluoroscopic guidance; single level

0063T - ... one or more additional levels (list separately in addition to 0062T for primary procedure). The addition of 0062T and 0063T for IDET (intradiscal electrothermal therapy) is a follow-up to their implementations July 1, 2004. Spine and neurosurgeons perform most IDET procedures, but some highly trained pain specialists may also conduct the cases.

Category III codes represent new or emerging technology or services. If a Category III code exists, you should report it instead of an unlisted-procedure code if possible. Some anesthesia or pain management coders report Category III codes, but others don't need them very often. "We don't like to use Category III codes because of the extra documentation involved with them," says Debbie Gulledge, CPC, with Anesthesia Associates of Rockhill in Charlotte, N.C. "Fortunately, we can usually report a code that isn't 'unlisted' instead of using Category III codes."