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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Clear 1 Line for Proper Swan-Ganz Coding

Published on Wed Apr 07, 2010

Reporting one placement will prevent incorrect double billing of 93503. The global anesthesia codes include many services, but when your anesthesiologist places a Swan-Ganz catheter, you'll need to know when you should -- and shouldn't -- report 93503 (Insertion and placement of flow directed catheter [e.g., Swan-Ganz] for monitoring purposes) separately. Follow these expert tips to ensure your catheter coding is spot-on. Don't Assume Every CVP Uses Swan-Ganz When your anesthesiologist is involved in an extensive heart procedure, he likely places a central venous pressure (CVP) catheter. The line is most often placed in the patient's superior vena cava, and may be used for other purposes, including IV fluid delivery, to adjust the patient's blood volume, or for central drug infusion. In addition, your anesthesiologist may place a Swan-Ganz catheter (SGC), also known as a pulmonary artery (PA) catheter. This catheter can monitor pulmonary artery pressure, plus measure cardiac output and other [...]
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