Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our physician provided anesthesia during surgery to place a stress incontinence sling. How do I know which code to submit?

Idaho Subscriber

Answer: Several surgical codes apply to stress incontinence slings, including 51992 (Laparoscopy, surgical; sling operation for stress incontinence [e.g., fascia or synthetic]), 53440 (Sling operation for correction of male urinary incontinence), and 57288 (Sling operation for stress incontinence [e.g., fascia or synthetic]). Each of these crosses to either 00860 (Anesthesia for extraperitoneal procedures in lower abdomen, including urinary tract; not otherwise specified) or 00940 (Anesthesia for vaginal procedures [including biopsy of labia, vagina, cervix or endometrium]; not otherwise specified).

Make your choice: Before selecting your code, check the operative notes to verify the surgeon's approach. If he used a transvaginal approach, report 00940; otherwise you'll report 00860. Sling incontinence surgery usually is performed to correct urinary stress incontinence so you'll probably turn to 00860 more often.