tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 2004 Issue 3

Reader Question: Consider Tube Placement When Reporting LMA

Question: Another hospital brought a woman in respiratory failure to our emergency department because they couldn't intubate. Even with help from a partner, I couldn't intubate her either. I ultimately secured her airway with the fast trac laryngeal mask airway (LMA). Should I code this as a standard intubation, or should I append a modifier to reflect the difficult airway? Is there a code for use of an LMA?     Missouri Subscriber Answer: If you performed the second step and placed an ET tube through the LMA, you should definitely report code 31500 (Intubation, endotracheal...

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