Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: My anesthesiologist inserted an arterial line in pre-op holding in preparation for the patient's surgery. The anesthesiologist indicated he spent a total of 17 minutes inserting the monitoring line. His anesthesia record indicated that the anesthesia start time was 30 minutes later. Can I bill for the A-line insertion separately or should I just include it with the global anesthesia fee? Georgia Subscriber Answer: You should consider the placement of monitoring lines, such as arterial lines, central venous lines, and Swan-Ganz catheters separately reportable from the anesthesia service. You can count on separate reimbursement for A-lines if the physician clearly documents the placement. In this case, you would report 36620 (Arterial catheterization or cannulation for sampling, monitoring or transfusion [separate procedure]; percutaneous) as a surgical service, which carries a base value of three units. In rare cases when a cutdown is required to place the line, you would report [...]