Critical Care Coding CPT & Diagnosis

Current Procedural Terminology is a series of codes created by the American Medical Association to standardize the language used procedures performed by physicians in healthcare environments.

Billing

• CPT codes are used by physicians working in critical care and intensive care units to produce accurate billing information for services performed by the physician. CPT codes contain five numbers and represent services including chest x-rays and pulse oximetry.

Diagnosis

• Where CPT codes represent services provided by a physician the diagnosis used to support the treatment provided is recorded as an ICD-9 code. Where a numerical diagnosis code does not match the treatment provided a claim filed with an insurance company will be rejected.

Critical Care

• Critical care is the delivery of emergency care for a critically ill or injured patient who is in a dangerous or life threatening condition. Physicians can only record critical care codes for the period of time they are with each patient or available in the critical care unit or floor.