Ask A Rev Cycle Expert: Technical Fee for CT Scans?
Question:
The ER physician orders a CT of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, lumbar, and thoracic. We do those scans, and then do some post-processing to acquire the images for the thoracic and lumbar areas. These orders are separate orders with separate files and separated radiology reads. Can the technical fee for the lumbar and thoracic be billed along with the chest, abdomen, pelvis?
Answer:
If the patient isn’t physically scanned for the films, then it is not appropriate to report the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes for the lumbar and thoracic images, according to the guidance from the Coding Clinic® for HCPCS, 2006Q3. They state, "an additional code for the reconstructed image of the lumbar spine is not required since this did not require a rescanning of the patient….”
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