Radiology Coding Alert

Question: I'm new to the interventional side of radiology coding, and I'm having trouble distinguishing between nonselective and selective vascular services. What exactly distinguishes the two types?Wisconsin SubscriberAnswer: In nonselective procedures, the physician does one of the following:Places a catheter directly into an artery or vein and stopsManipulates the catheter from another artery into the aorta and stopsManipulates the catheter from another vein into the superior or inferior vena cava and stops.Tip: You're more likely to see documentation that the physician entered a peripheral vessel and manipulated the catheter into either the aorta or vena cava than that she placed the catheter directly into the aorta or vena cava. The direct translumbar approach is an exception and has its own access code, 36160 (Introduction of needle or intracatheter, aortic, translumbar).You should use intra-arterial and intra-aortic codes 36200 and 36100-36160 to report nonselective arterial procedures, and use intravenous codes 36010 or [...]