Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Our anesthesiologist provided an epidural to an OB patient for cesarean section. She used a specific brand-name preservative-free morphine. Should I use 01996 to code for use of the drug during the procedure? Arizona Subscriber Answer: You would not report 01996 (Daily hospital management of epidural or subarachnoid continuous drug administration) because preservative-free morphines, such as Duramorph or Astramorph, are administered with a single application. So even though it is administered through the catheter, it is not administered continually as the code descriptor for 01996 indicates. A preservative-free morphine, such as Duramorph, is often given spinally or by epidural for C-section pain  or for large episiotomy repair. Physicians often mix Duramorph with the drugs given spinally for a cesarean section. If your anesthesiologist uses this technique, he might list "spinal morphine" on the anesthesia record with other medications administered spinally. Don't miss: The patient should have respiratory monitoring after [...]