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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Billing for A-Line

Published on Mon Apr 01, 2002

Question: If an A-line is inserted in the operating room after anesthesia time has started, how is it billed? Should I deduct the amount of time it took for insertion from the overall anesthesia time and then bill the insertion at a flat-fee rate?

Florida Subscriber  
Answer: CMS and the AMA agree that anesthesia time does not include unusual forms of monitoring; those forms include A-line, central venous pressure and Swan-Ganz line placement. These procedures are billed as separate surgical services, so in your case an A-line would be billed with 36620 (Arterial catheterization or cannulation for sampling, monitoring or transfusion [separate procedure]; percutaneous). However, some carriers include these procedures in the anesthesia and will not pay separately, so verify coverage with your carrier before filing.
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