Respiratory Question for the Week of April 25, 2022

Question:

How do we code for the instruction of patients on the use of the metered-dose inhaler and/or the handheld nebulizer? We know that service is described in 94664, but we don’t know what additional code if any should be reported or if we should use only 94664. Would we use 94799 for the education portion?

Answer:

Often, respiratory therapists are asked to instruct patients on the use of the metered-dose inhaler or perhaps the handheld nebulizer. As you said, this service is described in code 94664 as the demonstration and/or evaluation of an aerosol generator, nebulizer, metered-dose inhaler, or IPPB device. However, this type of education/demonstration should not be coded as an unlisted procedure (94799) nor coded as revenue code 0942 (education/training), which is usually reserved for diabetic education, smoking cessation counseling, and partial hospitalization training services, but rather revenue codes 0410, 0412, or 0419 for respiratory services.