Ask Dr. Z

Please advise the correct codes for the hospital to submit for cardiac event monitor services without attended monitoring. The order is for cardiac event monitor, and the report states that cardiac event monitoring was performed and then states number of patient activated events and interpretation of the recorded information for each of these events. Scenario 1: Patient presents to hospital outpatient department. and monitor is applied. Patient returns for disconnect 21 days later. Information is downloaded and interpreted with report by an employed physician. Would the hospital report code 93628, or should it be codes 93270 and 93271? Would the physician bill code 93272 for the professional side? Scenario 2: Patient presents to offsite clinic for hook up of monitor. Patient returns 21 days later for disconnect. Device is sent to hospital for information download and then is interpreted by physician and report generated. Should the clinic report code 93270 and the hospital report code 3271? When would codes 0497T and 0498T be used? I do not understand the difference between these codes and the codes mentioned above.