星空入口

Solve This Central Venous Access Scenario

Test your knowledge by coding this op report
Think you've got venous catheter reporting down pat? See if you can select the proper code for this procedure to find out for sure.
Operative report: Physician preps and drapes the left arm of a 50-year-old patient in sterile fashion. He then performs ultrasonographic guidance and gains access to the left basilic vein using a 22-gauge angiocatheter. He then secures access with a #18 guidewire and introduces a 4.5 French coaxial system.
He chooses the appropriate length of PICC line, and advances a single-lumen,  4 French PICC line to the level of the junction of the proximal-to-mid superior vena cava.
Patient tolerates the procedure well with no apparent complications.
The correct code is:
 A. 36558
 B. 36571
 C. 36569
 D. 36561
Answer: The correct answer is C. You should report 36569 (Insertion of peripherally inserted central venous catheter [PICC], without subcutaneous port or pump; age 5 years or older) for this procedure, says Stacy Gregory, RCC, CPC, charge capture and reconciliation specialist at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.

- Published on 2005-04-13