ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Make sure you have the clinical information for assigning the most accurate diagnosis code. To ensure proper diagnosis coding for electrocardiography, you need to remember two things: specificity and medical necessity. Rationale: The professional component of interpreting an ECG (93010, Electrocardiogram, routine ECG with at least 12 leads; interpretation and report only) is one of the most common diagnostic tests performed by emergency physicians. During the noninvasive procedure, a patient has electrodes placed on his or her chest, arms and legs to produce an electrical recording of the heart. Technically speaking, the ECG is a graphic tracing of the electrical activity caused by the impulses that travel through the heart that determine the heart’s rate and rhythm as detected at the body surface, says Stacie Norris, MBA, CPC, CCS-P, Director of Coding Quality Assurance Medical Management Professionals in Durham, NC. ECGs are used in the diagnosis of disorders of cardiac [...]