Pulmonology Coding Alert

Learn when prolonged services should not apply.Reporting your pulmonologist's asthma attack treatments can be crafty business, as you can be confused about what, how and when to choose from the E/M and treatment codes that describe different situations.Learn a few secrets of the trade from these scenarios:Scenario 1: A patient suffering from hay fever with exacerbated asthma (493.02, Extrinsic asthma; with [acute] exacerbation) requires two nebulizer treatments and 55-minute treatment time. What coding option would you report?Scenario 2: A child patient with asthma experiences active wheezing and shortness of breath. The patient's parent brings the child to the office, and demands the physician to see her child right away because the child is restless and screams in pain.Dodge A Bullet By Putting Modifier 76 In Its Right PlaceSome practices would report Scenario 1 using a level four established patient office visit (99214, Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation [...]