Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Question: How do you report for a 24 hour EEG lasting less than half the period, such as 10 hours? Iowa Subscriber Answer: When the EEG monitoring lasts less than 24 hours, you may still be able to report the appropriate longterm monitoring code, although you may need to append modifier 52 (Reduced services), depending on exactly how long the monitoring lasted. The AMA CPT codebook currently does not include any section guidelines and/or parenthetical notes directing neurologists how to report the special EEG tests that are performed for a shorter period than the CPT code description of "each 24 hours." According to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS), more than half of the CPT code description of "each 24 hours" of monitoring is adequate to allow use of these codes. If the recording time is less than 12 hours, the neurologist should [...]