You Be the Coder:
Billing the Technical Component
Published on Fri Nov 01, 2002
Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the
answer. Question: Our pulmonology practice uses an electrocardiogram (EKG) machine owned by a cardiology practice next door. Can we bill the technical component of the EKG? If not, how should we bill this service? Texas Subscriber Answer: CPT codes for EKG reporting include the technical (the tracing) and professional (the physician interpretation and report) components that describe the services provided. Whoever owns the equipment the cardiology practice in this case can bill the technical component (93005) to the carrier.
The pulmonology practice should bill for the test's professional interpretation (93010). The pulmonology practice cannot report 93000 because it incorporates the professional and technical component into one global code. Some codes allow you to report the professional component by adding modifier -26 (Professional component). This is not allowed when reporting EKGs because there are separate codes for the service's technical and professional components.
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