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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Intubation Coding Is Iffy

Published on Tue Jul 11, 2006

Question: The anesthesiologist left his case to assist another anesthesiologist with an intubation. Can he charge for this help?

Missouri Subscriber
 
Answer: Helping intubate a patient is usually a courtesy to the other practitioner and not generally billed separately. If, however, the anesthesiologist spent a substantial amount of time on the intubation -- and thoroughly documented his work -- some carriers might reimburse for the time spent helping or a reduced service.
 
If you have enough documentation to support the claim, report 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal, emergency procedure). Append modifier 52 (Reduced services) because this was not an emergency.
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