Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: What anesthesia code should I use for a 5-year-old who was given general anesthesia for a blood draw? The actual anesthesia time was 20 minutes.

California Subscriber

Answer: Although anesthesia is not typically required for a simple blood draw, a pediatric patient sometimes does need anesthesia service. This falls under 00400 (Anesthesia for procedures on the integumentary system on the extremities, anterior trunk and perineum; not otherwise specified) provided the blood was taken from one of the child's extremities.

Modifier: Presuming your carrier recognizes modifiers, modifier 23 (Unusual anesthesia) may be appended after any other applicable payment modifiers.