General

Week of May 20, 2013

Question:

When hydration is being administrated and the patient is given a push in between the start and stop time of the hydration, would you code the hydration along with the push or would you just could the push only, being that you are infusing a different drug into the same line although it is under 15 minute?

Answer:

The determination of billing depends on the time frames recorded for hydration. Since drug administration is being provided during the same session, the hierarchy will require coding of the IVP as the initial CPT. If the hydration time (minus the time for drug administration) is equal to or greater than 31 minutes, you will code for hydration as the secondary service with CPT +96361—IV infusion, hydration; each additional hour (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure).

Sign up to receive Compliance Question of the Week.

To view and archive of the General Compliance Question of the Week, click here