tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 2011 Issue 3

You Be the Coder: Coding 'Needle to Chest' Procedures

Question: A patient reports to the ED via ambulance. The emergency medical technician (EMT) says the patient had sudden chest pain, rapid heart rate and rapid breathing. The physician orders a two-view chest x-ray, and diagnoses a spontaneous pneumothorax. Encounter notes indicate that the physician used "needle to chest for spontaneous pneumothorax." Notes indicate the encounter included a level-five E/M service. How should I code this encounter?Montana SubscriberAnswer: You physician performed a needle thoracentesis for this patient's collapsed lung. On the claim, report the following:32421 (Thoracentesis, puncture of pleural cavity for aspiration, initial or subsequent) for the...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert.


You have ED coding questions, and we deliver money-in-the-bank answers to help you defeat your claim issues and secure optimal reimbursement.

Stay in the know and avoid federal reproach with your subscription to TCI’s ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1998 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

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