Respiratory Question for the Week of August 10, 2020

Question:

What component services are inappropriate to separately report for code 94621?

Answer:

Chapter 11, Section J of the 2020 NCCI Manual includes the following reference to cardiopulmonary and pulmonary stress testing: “Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPT® code 94621) is a comprehensive exercise test with a number of component tests separately defined in the CPT Manual. It is inappropriate to separately report component services such as, but not limited to, venous access, ECG monitoring, spirometric parameters performed before, during and after exercise, oximetry, O2 consumption, CO2 production, and rebreathing cardiac output calculations when performed during the same patient encounter as a cardiopulmonary exercise test. It is also inappropriate to report a cardiac stress test, a pulmonary stress test (CPT code 94618), or a component of either of these stress tests when performed during the same patient encounter as a cardiopulmonary exercise test.”

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