ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: One of our patients died before a full EKG was completed. Is the coding different because the patient died? Wisconsin Subscriber Answer: ED coders should report services that were completed and were documented in the patient record. There should have been no reason to interpret the EKG output on a patient who died during the evaluation. The work involved in hooking the patient up to the EKG and the expense of operating the equipment would be covered in the facility fee and should not be reflected in the physicians fee. If the ED physician was not called on to interpret and write a report based on the EKGs rhythm strips, there is no service to report. If the ED physician ordered an EKG that was completed, and he interpreted the results before the patient died, 93010 (Electrocardiogram, routine ECG with at least 12 leads; interpretation and report only) should be used. Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were reviewed by John Turner, MD, FACEP, medical director for coding and documentation at TeamHealth Inc. in Knoxville, Tenn.; and Tracie Christian, CPC, CCS-P, director of coding for ProCode in Dallas. q