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Deactivating Pacemaker before an MRI - Billing for time at Pt's Bedside

Date: Sep 29, 2023

Question:

I have a question I hope you can help me with. Cardiologist is seeing a patient who is getting an MRI (outpatient). The pacemaker was deactivated before the MRI. Physician stayed at patient's bedside to watch for any possible problems for the duration of the MRI, and then changed the programming back to how it started (and made sure there were no changes to the pacemaker because of the MRI).

Physician's question is, in addition to billing for the pacemaker check, how can I bill for the hour spent (outside of the pacemaker check)? Patient not in ED or inpatient (this is an outpatient procedure).

Seem like no extra charge for the time spent "monitoring" this patient.

Question ID : 19462
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