tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 2009 Issue 6

You Be the Coder: Carving Up Critical Care Claims

Question: A patient reports to the ED with critical injuries to her abdomen and chest; she was in an auto accident, and the ED physician cares exclusively for this patient for 98 minutes. During the encounter, the physician spends eight minutes inserting a peritoneal trocar and needle into the umbilicus, sending saline into the peritoneal cavity to check for intra-abdominal bleeding and infection; he then drains and collects the fluid. The physician also spends another five minutes ordering and interpreting a two-view frontal and lateral chest x-ray. Should I code the needle procedure and xrays separately, or are these...

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