Anesthesia Coding Alert

Patient safety is the deciding factor for "Discontinued procedure."The anesthesiologist or surgeon -- or even the patient -- might determine a procedure should be cancelled. Check out these examples of the three points when the physician might order a cancellation.Preoperative visit: The anesthesiologist completes the standard preoperative visit but believes the patient is not a good candidate for the recommended surgery. He discusses the situation with the surgeon, and the surgeon cancels the case. If the rescheduled date is far enough in the future to merit another complete pre-op consult (usually at least two or three weeks later), bill the original exam with the appropriate consultation code (99241-99245 for office/outpatient or 99251-99255 for inpatient). The second consult (when the case actually takes place) is part of the anesthesia service at the time of surgery.Before induction: Mrs. Smith is prepared for surgery. Before the case begins, your anesthesiologist sees an arrhythmia when he [...]