Wiki nitroglycerin and aspirin administration

[robbinwolf]

I recently began coding for a family physician so I am still learning. A patient was seen in the office with chest pains. The doctor gave him 4 nitroglycerin tablets and aspirin and administered oxygen. Can she code for that?What codes do I use? Thank!!

 

[ben3379]

good question

I did a search looking for that very question and found yours. I don't know the answer either. I cannot find anything about it in HCPCS or any other coding resources. Not even anything about it as a general search in Google.

 

[HeatherM]

It depends on a number of things. Did your office purchase all the drugs that were administered? (nitro, o2, etc.) If they did, then you find the appropriate J codes and bill and e/m code for whatever level visit the doctor has appropriate in their note (99214, 99213, etc.) with a 25 modifier on the visit if administration codes are necessary and used. If the office did NOT purchase such materials, you can not bill for them. You can only bill for the visit. This is what I have found to be true.