Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Question: A patient with complications from a bee sting presented to our office. Our allergist administered the appropriate medications for the reaction and stayed with the patient for two hours until he was stable. How should I code for this office visit? Can I report the medications separately?Tennessee SubscriberAnswer: If you want to report the physician's administration of the medication, you could use an E/M code based on the nature of the presenting problem and the documentation, such as 99214 (Office or other outpatient visit for the E/M of an established patient ...). You would bill 96372 (Therapeutic, prophylactic, or diagnostic injection (specify substance or drug); subcutaneous or intramuscular) for the IM injection due to the allergic reaction. Also, you can bill a J code, such as J0170 (Injection, adrenaline, epinephrine, up to 1 ml ampule).And, you may assign codes +99354 (Prolonged physician service in the office or other outpatient [...]