Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: Two of our anesthesiologists participated in a labor and delivery case. Dr. A administered the patient's epidural but was unavailable when the case began, so the team called in Dr. B. He provided more medication through the patient's epidural and monitored her throughout delivery. How should I code this?


Maryland Subscriber


Answer: You will report split time for this case to document each physician's involvement. Determine which physician spent more time on the case and submit the claim under his name, but still note the second physician's time. Most billing software can do this, which simplifies your calculations.

For the procedure, submit 01967 (Neuraxial labor analgesia/anesthesia for planned vaginal delivery [this includes any repeat subarachnoid needle placement and drug injection and/or any necessary replacement of an epidural catheter during labor]).

For Dr. A, report 01967 along with the appropriate base and time units.

For Dr. B, report 01967 with modifier 52 (Reduced services) and the time he spent on the follow-up and monitoring.