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 2014. The coding advice may or may not be outdated.

Cancelled Cardiac Ablation

Date: Apr 17, 2014

Question:

We have a patient who was scheduled for a cardiac ablation. The EPS catheters were inserted; however, when they got to the IVC they were unable to advance further. Imaging was done of the IVC, which showed occlusion. At this point, the procedure was cancelled. Do you recommend coding the ablation procedure with a -74 modifier (93653-74), or do you feel it would be more appropriate to code the venous catheterization with IVC imaging only? I'm not sure if what was done is enough to justify coding an attempted procedure.

Question ID : 5506
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!