Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: I was perusing the October 2019 issue of Cardiology Coding Alert and had a question. When talking about CPT® 2020 updates, it mentioned towards the end of an article that 93299 will be deleted and you should report remote interrogation evaluation codes 93297 and 93298 instead for this procedure. But, both 93297 and 93298 codes are professional component codes (review and report by physician, etc.) for the particular monitor that is being described by those codes. What is going to replace the 93299, which was the technical aspect (data acquisition, receipt of transmissions, etc.)? Are codes 93297 and 93298 going to be revised?

Virginia Subscriber

Answer: Currently CPT^® has not published revisions for 93297 (Interrogation device evaluation(s), (remote) up to 30 days; implantable cardiovascular physiologic monitor system, including analysis of 1 or more recorded physiologic cardiovascular data elements from all internal and external sensors, analysis, review(s) and report(s) by a physician or other qualified health care professional) and 93298 (… subcutaneous cardiac rhythm monitor system, including analysis of recorded heart rhythm data, analysis, review(s) and report(s) by a physician or other qualified health care professional).

CPT^® does offer some guidance for 93297 and 93298, which you can find in the parenthetical notes surrounding these codes. This guidance is as follows:

• You should not report 93297 in conjunction with remote monitoring of a wireless pulmonary artery pressure sensor code 93264, in-person interrogation device evaluation code 93290, 93298, collection and interpretation of physiologic data code 99091, or remote monitoring of physiologic parameter code 99454.
• You should report 93297 only once per 30 days.
• You should not report 93298 in conjunction with insertion of a subcutaneous cardiac rhythm monitor code 33285, in-person interrogation device evaluation code 93291, 93297, 99091, or 99454.
• You should report 93298 only once per 30 days.
• Code 93299 has been deleted. To report this service, you should look to 93297 and 93298.
• If you need to report remote monitoring of an implantable wireless pulmonary artery pressure sensor, you should rely on 93264.