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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Update Your Base Units

Published on Sat Mar 01, 2003

The CMS has identified various inconsistencies in the 2003 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Database that providers and coders should be aware of. The update includes several anesthesia codes with applicable base units:

  • 00540 Anesthesia for thoracotomy procedures involving lungs, pleura, diaphragm, and mediastinum (including surgical thoracoscopy); not otherwise specified; 12 base units
  • 01829 Anesthesia for diagnostic arthroscopic procedures on the wrist; 3 base units
  • 01963 Anesthesia for cesarean hysterectomy without any labor analgesia/anesthesia care; 8 base units
  • 01991 Anesthesia for diagnostic or therapeutic nerve blocks and injections (when block or injection is performed by a different provider); other than the prone position; 3 base units
  • 01992 prone position; 5 base units.

    These anesthesia services are not included on the Medicare Database but are on the HCPCS file. You'll need to add the revised base units to your system. Changes are effective for claims processed on or after March 1, 2003.

     


     

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