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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Rely on Units to Report Extra L/D Minutes

Published on Tue Jul 26, 2011

Question: When billing for code 01967, sometimes the time is over 999 minutes. In one case, the time was 1,080 minutes. May I bill the anesthesia as: 01967 (900 minutes in the units field) plus 01967 (180 minutes in the units field), or should I report it some other way?Indiana SubscriberAnswer: Knowing how to handle multiple-digit units can be difficult. You typically report minutes in field 24G on the CMS (HCFA) 1500 form. Most payers that accept claims electronically can accept a maximum of three digits in that field, whereas some payers that only accept paper claims and don't accept electronic claims -- some workers comp or auto injury payers, for example -- scan in only two digits in the 24G field.But this limitation should not present a problem in your case. Here's why: For 01967 (Neuraxial labor analgesia/anesthesia for planned vaginal delivery [this includes any repeat subarachnoid needle placement and drug [...]
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