Radiology Question for the Week of March 12, 2018

Question:

If a patient is having a computed tomography (CT) abdomen/pelvis without contrast (CPT^® 74176) and the physician orders two doses of Omnipaque 3,000 mg (Q9967) in 500 ml of sterile water to be administered orally 30 minutes before the exam, can we bill separately for the contrast? If so, is the contrast billed per ml? (I understand that whether intravenous contrast was injected determines coding for CT. Only intravenous administration of contrast changes the code sets.  Oral and/or rectal contrast is not billable as a “with contrast” study.)

Can we bill separately for the oral contrast if the test is ordered as a CT abdomen/pelvis with and without contrast (CPT 74178)? I would think we cannot bill separately for the oral contrast in this situation because the IV contrast would already be billed.

Answer:

Oral contrast is included in the CT scan code and not separately billed.

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