AHA Coding Clinic® for HCPCS - 2010 Issue 3; ASK the EDITOR

Fetal Biophysical Profile

At our facility, pregnant patients are sometimes referred for a fetal biophysical profile, which is performed in the radiology department and interpreted by a radiologist, and a non-stress test, which is performed by nursing and interpreted by the ordering physician. Our current coding practice is to report these two procedures with CPT code 76818, Fetal biophysical profile; with non-stress testing. When reporting this way, we have several charge correction issues. Additionally, a radiologist at our facility disagrees with this practice. The radiologist believes that CPT code 59025, Fetal non-stress test, should be reported for the non-stress test, and CPT code 76819, Fetal biophysical profile; without non-stress testing, should be reported for the fetal biophysical profile, with modifier 59, Distinct Procedural Service, appended to 76819. Additionally, the radiologist does not believe that it is appropriate to report the radiological portion of this service with 76818. From a hospital reporting perspective, what is the appropriate way to report a fetal biophysical profile performed in one area of the facility and a non-stress test performed in another area of the facility on the same date of service? ...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to the AHA Coding Clinic® for HCPCS.


The AHA Coding Clinic for HCPCS includes:

  • The official publication for Level I HCPCS (CPT-4 codes) for hospital providers
  • Also specific Level II HCPCS codes for hospitals, physicians and other health professionals
  • Current newsletters added each quarter
  • Full Archives back to 2001
  • Fully searchable through Find-A-Code's Comprehensive Search
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information page link back to related articles
  • View all the articles associated with any code, right from the code page!
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • AHA's Coding Clinic® - HCPCS +Archives

demo
request yours today
subscribe
start today
newsletter
free subscription

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.