Wiki MAC (Monitored Anesthesia Care) requirements

[lmyers618]

I have a question regarding MAC

I found articles from 2009 regarding Monitored Anesthesia care (MAC). The articles, however, do not answer my question.

My question is:
Can a single provider can administer the anesthesia and do the necessary procedure OR does it require one provider to do the procedure and another provider to give the anesthesia?

The articles elude to separate providers providing services but nothing concrete.

Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[MarcusM]

http://www.orionhealthcorp.com/Portals/0/Orion White Paper.pdf

should answer all your questions, but I seem to recall that the surgeon cannot do both anesthesia and perform the procedure.....

 

[lmyers618]

Thank you! That is one of the articles that we have. We were hoping to find something that specifically states they must be separate but have not been able to find anything.

 

[tjrice]

I have a question regarding MAC

I found articles from 2009 regarding Monitored Anesthesia care (MAC). The articles, however, do not answer my question.

My question is:
Can a single provider can administer the anesthesia and do the necessary procedure OR does it require one provider to do the procedure and another provider to give the anesthesia?

The articles elude to separate providers providing services but nothing concrete.

Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Monitored anesthesia care is as it states. It is monitored. There must be another individual present besides the operating provider to perform the monitoring. Modifier 47 would be used if the surgeon alone administers anesthesia. Commonly done for nerve blocks.

 

[lmyers618]

I understand the statements of how it should be done and coded. What I am looking for is documentation clearly that states it. We have pulled a lot of articles and each are vague to say that these are to be done separately. I am looking for solid, clear documentation for educational/compliance purposes.

I appreciate everyone's input on how to do it and code it, but is really the documentation by a reliable and recognized recourse that I am looking for.

 

[hgolfos]

Check out CMS's NCCI Manual, Chapter 2, Anesthesia. That should give you the documentation you need.

http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/NationalCorrectCodInitEd/index.html