Category: Central Catheter Placement

In medical coding, we code all type of procedures. These procedures are simple, complex or look complex but are simple. Here, I would consider Central or PICC catheter placement procedures are complex but are very simple to code. I am just going to share my experience about coding these procedures and how to find a correct code for them. Now, when we are talking about interventional radiology we have to talk about guidance as well. Here also, we have ultrasound 76937 and fluoroscopic 77001-guidance support to perform this procedure. Do…

The long-term presence of access catheters in the vascular system may result in development of clot and/or fibrin within or around the catheter, causing the catheter to become non-functional. The most common complication of a semi-permanent CVC is the formation of a fibrin sheath at the tip of the catheter that causes obstruction or reduced flow through the CVC. A separately reportable venogram is performed and the existence of a fibrin sheath or other pericatheter obstructive material confirmed. The fibrin sheath or other obstructive material is mechanically removed by stripping it…

For coding Vascular procedures, it is very important to understand the concept of vascular families. Vascular families are located in Appendix L in CPT codebook. Vascular family is made of branches of arteries arising from aorta. We have different vascular families from head to leg. You can refer the below image and know how they are arranged in the Appendix L page. Now coming to the coding part, the vascular families are needed for coding the selective and non-selective catheterization procedures. Yes, the movement of catheter from one artery to…