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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Report Procedure, Not Anesthesia Mode

Published on Tue Jul 11, 2006

Question: Our physician administered a lumbar plexus block and sciatic nerve block as his modes of anesthesia during an arthroscopy with meniscectomy. How should I code this procedure?

Arkansas Subscriber Answer: Because your physician used the blocks as the mode of anesthesia, you cannot bill them in addition to the procedure. Instead, only report the correct anesthesia code for the arthroscopic surgery. Arthroscopic codes are site-specific, which means 01400 (Anesthesia for open or surgical arthroscopic procedures on knee joint; not otherwise specified) is the correct choice for your case.
 
If your physician had administered stand-alone blocks for pain management, you would report 64449 (Injection, anesthetic agent; lumbar plexus, posterior approach, continuous infusion by catheter [including catheter placement] including daily management for anesthetic agent administration) for the lumbar plexus block or 64446 (... sciatic nerve, continuous infusion by catheter, [including catheter placement] including daily management for anesthetic agent administration) for the sciatic nerve block.
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