CPC Anesthesia Coding Guidelines 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Anesthesia for a patient undergoing an emergency procedure would be reported with which qualifying circumstance?
- 99100
- 99116
- 99135
- 99140 (Correct answer)
Correct answer: 99140
Code 99140 is added when anesthesia is complicated by emergency conditions, such as a life-threatening situation requiring immediate surgery.
Question 2: Which CPT code range is used for anesthesia services related to obstetric procedures?
- 00800–00882
- 00900–00952
- 01958–01969 (Correct answer)
- 01996
Correct answer: 01958–01969
CPT codes 01958–01969 cover anesthesia for obstetric procedures including vaginal delivery and cesarean delivery.
Question 3: A patient with morbid obesity undergoing anesthesia has a BMI of 45. Which factor may influence anesthesia coding?
- Additional base units are automatically added
- Modifier 22 may be appended to indicate increased complexity (Correct answer)
- A separate obesity code must be listed first
- No additional coding is required as BMI is not a factor
Correct answer: Modifier 22 may be appended to indicate increased complexity
Modifier 22 may be appended when morbid obesity significantly increases the complexity and risk of the anesthesia service.
Question 4: For a procedure lasting 45 minutes, how many time units are reported if each unit equals 15 minutes?
- 2 units
- 3 units (Correct answer)
- 4 units
- 5 units
Correct answer: 3 units
45 minutes divided by 15 minutes per unit equals 3 time units.
Question 5: Which of the following is NOT included in the global anesthesia package?
- Intraoperative monitoring
- Postoperative pain management via epidural catheter (Correct answer)
- Preoperative assessment by the anesthesiologist
- Routine recovery room management
Correct answer: Postoperative pain management via epidural catheter
Postoperative pain management through an epidural catheter is separately billable and not included in the routine anesthesia global package.
Question 6: Code 01996 is used for which specific anesthesia-related service?
- Epidural anesthesia for labor
- Daily management of epidural or subarachnoid drug administration (Correct answer)
- Anesthesia for diagnostic arthroscopy
- Monitored anesthesia care for cataract surgery
Correct answer: Daily management of epidural or subarachnoid drug administration
CPT 01996 is reported for the daily hospital management of epidural or subarachnoid continuous drug administration.
Question 7: When an anesthesiologist supervises more than four concurrent CRNA cases, which modifier applies to the anesthesiologist's claim?
- QK
- AD (Correct answer)
- QY
- AA
Correct answer: AD
Modifier AD is used when a physician medically supervises more than four concurrent anesthesia procedures.
CPC Anesthesia Coding Guidelines 4
Anesthesia for a patient undergoing an emergency procedure would be reported with which qualifying circumstance?