Q/A: Adding hydration times
APCs Weekly Monitor, September 24, 2010
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Q: A patient in the ED receives 20 minutes of hydration, and one hour later receives another 20 minutes of hydration. The guideline states the hydration needs to be greater than 30 minutes, but can we add two separate times under 31 minutes together to meet the time guideline?
A: According to the scenario, it would be inappropriate to add together the times in order to achieve the necessary 31 minutes. The CPT Manual coding guidelines state that, “when reporting codes for infusion time is a factor, use the actual time over which the infusion is administered.” The parenthetical note listed for CPT code 96360 (Intravenous infusion, hydration; initial, 31 minutes to one hour) states that intravenous infusions of hydration of 30 minutes or less should not be reported.
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