Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Can we bill Medicare for intubation (31500), ventilation assist/management (94002) and open procedure on bone (01480) all on the same day? Illinois Subscriber Answer: Both 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal, emergency procedure) and 94002 (Ventilation assist and management, initiation of pressure or volume preset ventilators for assisted or controlled breathing; hospital inpatient/observation, initial day) are considered to be part of the anesthesia service. However, you might be able to bill separately under certain circumstances, such as when the physician performs an emergency intubation outside the anesthesia service. Documentation: Consider the explanation of bundled services from the 2012 CCI manual. "94002-94004, 94660-94662 (Ventilation management/CPAP services): If these services are performed during a surgical procedure, they are included in the anesthesia service. These services may be separately reportable if performed by the anesthesia practitioner after post-operative care has been transferred to another physician by the anesthesia practitioner. Modifier 59 may be reported to indicate that [...]