Reader Question:
IVC Filter
Published on Wed Mar 01, 2000
Question: I have been having problems billing for inferior vena cava (IVC) filter placement. Medicare is not paying the physicians fee, only the hospital fee. What should I do?
Anonymous Florida Subscriber
Answer: The reader seems to be billing only the radiology portion of the service and forgetting about the procedural code, which is 37620 (interruption, partial or complete, of inferior vena cava by suture, ligation, plication, clip, extravascular, intravascular [umbrella device]), says Kathleen Mueller, RN, CPC, CCS-P, an independent general surgery coding specialist in Lenzburg, Ill. The fee associated radiological procedure (75940, percutaneous placement of IVC filter, radiological supervision and interpretation) could be going to the radiologist for one of two reasons:
1. the radiologists interpretation, not the surgeons, is guiding the treatment of the patient; or
2. the carrier received the radiologists report first.
When billing for the 75940, make sure to attach modifier -26 (professional component) to show the surgeons role in the procedure.
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