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Anesthesia Coding Alert

GI Procedures:

Remember One Simple Code to Help Justify Anesthesia for Colonoscopy

Published on Mon May 02, 2011

Including supporting documentation can also help your cause.ICD-9 Codes 2010 introduced a new V code for patients with a history of failed moderate sedation, but that didn't automatically solve your coding problems. Read on for three simple steps to correctly report ICD-9 V15.80 (Personal history of failed moderate sedation) in one of its most common uses: to support anesthesia during colonoscopy. Scenario: A gastroenterologist wants your anesthesiologist to provide anesthesia during a patient's colonoscopy because the patient has a previously failed moderate sedation session. When the anesthesiologist completes the pre-procedure exam, he classifies the patient as P3 (A patient with severe systemic disease) because of her history of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and cerebral infarction seven months ago, without residual deficits.1. Confirm the Original Diagnosis Your first step in justifying the necessity for anesthesia is to understand the patient's diagnosis and condition. "The diagnosis on the anesthesiologist's claim should follow [...]
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