Ask Dr. Z

Ask Dr. Z Knowledge Base houses over 7,500 coding questions and answers dating back to 2013.

Ask Dr. Z Disclaimer

Please note this question was answered in 2022. The coding advice may or may not be outdated.

37248/37249 - IVC

Date: Jul 25, 2022

Question:

If an angioplasty is performed in three separate areas of the IVC ["suprarenal" inferior vena cava (60% stenosis), "infrarenal" inferior vena cava (50%), "retrohepatic" inferior vena cava (60%)], would it be appropriate to code three units? 37248, 37249 x 2.

I see this frequently from one of my clinics, and we are getting MUE edits for these codes. Typically during these types of cases, the surgeon is also doing venoplasties of the lower limbs. So, the codes I typically see are like: 37248-50, 37249-50, 37249-XS, 37249-XS, 37249-XS, 36011, 75822-XU.

Question ID : 17556
Sign up for a membership to view the answer to this question.

Need to ask Dr.Z?

Don't see the answer you're looking for in the knowledge base? No problem. You can ask Dr. Z directly!
Ask Dr. Z a question now!