Anesthesia

There are two questions to this discussion; answer both questions.

Question A

The textbook says that the common anesthesia time units are 15 minutes, but that some carriers use 30 minutes. Not mentioned in the book is the fact that some carriers require the actual number of minutes rather than increments. Why do you think there are differences? When you respond to your fellow students’ posts, do you agree with your fellow students’ and why or why not?

Question B

The textbook says that Medicare requires the use of CPT anesthesia codes whereas some third party payers require the use of surgery codes for anesthesia. How does a coder find out if the third party payer requires anesthesia or surgical codes for anesthesia services?