Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: Is there a timeframe for when we can report 92941 versus 92928 or 92920?

North Carolina Subscriber

Answer: Normally, cardiothoracic surgeons say an hour and a half is the normal timeframe associated with the following codes:

• 92941 (Percutaneous transluminal revascularization of acute total/subtotal occlusion during acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery or coronary artery bypass graft, any combination of intracoronary stent, atherectomy and angioplasty, including aspiration thrombectomy when performed, single vessel)
• 92928 (Percutaneous transcatheter placement of intracoronary stent(s), with coronary angioplasty when performed; single major coronary artery or branch)
• 92920 (Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty; single major coronary artery or branch)

The surgeon has to look at the total record, so they are looking at door to cath lab time. The time starts from the moment the patient hits the emergency department (ED) to the moment they arrive at the cath lab. This is usually a 90-minute timeframe. But urgency is considered. Not all acute heart attacks are treated immediately. Some of them are not treated until the next day. If your cardiologist treats the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) the next day, you should not report 92941. You should only report 92941 when your cardiologist performs percutaneous transluminal revascularization during the acute phase of an AMI.