Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: What is a "single-site" EP study? Is there a CPT code specific to this?

Vermont Subscriber

Answer: "Single-site" simply means the cardiologist uses one catheter to study a particular site. You should choose the appropriate code from electrophysiology (EP) study codes 93600-93618.

For example, the cardiologist might use a single catheter study of a specific site to identify the site of a heart block, in which the signal from the heart's upper to lower chambers is impaired. The cardiologist may combine single-site studies, as well.

Helpful: "The commonality among the single-catheter electrophysiology procedures is that each procedure requires the placement and repositioning of a single arterial or venous catheter under fluoroscopic guidance to derive the diagnostic information," states CPT Assistant (April 2004).

In contrast, the more commonly used comprehensive EP evaluation codes (93619-93622) involve two or more catheters "inserted and positioned within the heart to obtain recording/pacing from two or more sites," CPT Assistant states.