One of the most popular newsletters I sent in recent months was one that I did while we were in the middle of a snowstorm. The fire was roaring and a mug of hot tea was sitting beside me. As I write this one…summer is in full swing, the days are hot and humid and I am in
the midst of my summer vacation. Vacation for me means taking some time away from the office, but of course I am always thinking and creating ways to help my clients and practices across the country. Today as I write to you from the beach, I want to give you a heads up on some changes in CDT coding that will be impacting all of us come January 2018.
So…here we go again…just when we thought the dust had settled with the anesthesia codes there
are new updated CDT anesthesia codes coming our way in January of 2018.
CDT 2018 has two new anesthesia codes and changes to the description of the current general anesthesia/deep sedation code D9223 and IV sedation D9243.
As of January 1st the new codes are as follows:
D9222 deep sedation/general anesthesia – first 15 minutes
D9223 deep sedation/general anesthesia – each
subsequent 15 minute increment
And
D9239 intravenous moderate (conscious) sedation/analgesia- first 15 minutes
D9243 intravenous moderate (conscious) sedation/analgesia – each subsequent 15 minute increment
What does that mean for you? A couple of things:
Expect new fee schedules and allowable for the
first 15 minutes of anesthesia versus each additional 15 minutes.
Plan soon for updated treatment plans to patients with new codes effective in January.
Other exciting news comes from our office, whereby earlier this summer I spent a full day in the studio recording our signature coding course “Untangling the Web of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery”. It was so much
fun and quite an experience to talk to a camera for a full day! We did this because you have been asking for an online course and I wanted to give you all of the content that I give in my full day live courses. The program will be available for sale at the end of August…keep an eye on your email boxes for release dates and also special values for you! In the meantime, here is a snippet of a quick video we shot at the beginning of the day together…hope you
enjoy it!
