Cardiology Coding Alert

Question: My cardiologist injected a radionuclide substance that collects in the patient’s nonischemic tissues. He took planar images of the heart to show where the poor blood supply was occurring. He performed this single planar study under stress where he induced stress by having the patient exercise on a bicycle. He performed continuous electrocardiographic monitoring during the stress test. My cardiologist performed the supervision, interpretation, and report of the cardiac stress test. Which code should I report for this procedure?

Pennsylvania Subscriber

Answer: You should report 78453 (Myocardial perfusion imaging, planar (including qualitative or quantitative wall motion, ejection fraction by first pass or gated technique, additional quantification, when performed); single study, at rest or stress (exercise or pharmacologic)) for the myocardial perfusion. You can also report 93015 (Cardiovascular stress test using maximal or submaximal treadmill or bicycle exercise, continuous electrocardiographic monitoring, and/or pharmacological stress; with supervision, interpretation and report) for the exercise stress test, per the CPT^® guidelines.