Anesthesia Coding Alert

Let payers reduce your case units instead of handling it yourself.A prime factor in determining whether you can report your anesthesiologist's work as medical direction or medical supervision depends on concurrency -- the number of cases she oversaw or assisted with at the same time. Refine your concurrency coding by remembering some do's and don'ts.Do Add --AD, But Don't Adjust UnitsWhen the anesthesiologist medically directs one CRNA, append modifier QY (Medical direction of one certified registered nurse anesthetist [CRNA] by an anesthesiologist) to the physician's claim. Once the number of concurrent cases the anesthesiologist oversees rises, you can report a maximum of four concurrent cases as medical direction with modifier QK (Medical direction of two, three, or four concurrent anesthesia procedures involving qualified individuals). Teaching facilities should keep in mind the Residency Review Committee limits the teaching ratio to one teaching anesthesiologist to two residents and/or student nurse anesthetists.If the anesthesiologist's [...]