Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Check CPT& CCI about conscious sedation

Always check CPT coding and CCI edits because CPT guidelines and correct coding initiative edits will keep you from reporting conscious sedation with most cardiac catheterization codes.

CPT coding, CCI edits, CPT assistant, Medical Coding, CPT manual

As a cardiology coder, you may be bowled over by various CPT coding questions. For instance, you may find yourself bowled over by questions such as:

Is it ok to report conscious sedation for a cardiac catheterization?

The answer: CPT guidelines and correct coding initiative (CCI) edits will keep you from reporting conscious sedation with most cardiac catheterization codes.

CPT: CPT makes use of a symbol that looks like a circle with a dot in the center – in order to identify codes which CPT considers to include sedation as part of the procedure. As a consequence, you shouldn’t report moderate sedation alongside the service. If you check the cardiac catheterization section of CPT, you will see the symbol beside 93501 and 93505-93530 as well as all of the injection procedure codes.

CCI edits: CCI edits(http://www.supercoder.com/coding-tools/cci-edits-checker/) bundle 99143-99145 into the same cardiac cath codes as showed in the CPT manual.

Term tip: According to CPT guidelines, moderate or conscious sedation is a ‘drug-induced depression of consciousness’ that allows patients to maintain their airways and ability to respond to stimulation or verbal commands.


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