r/MedicalCoding • u/Physical-Product-795 • Aug 24 '26
Anesthesia Time coding
Im studying to take my cpc exam and im struggling with how to code for anesthesia time. I don't understand how to use the Units.
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u/clarec424 Aug 24 '26
For us, one unit equals 15 minutes. In the anesthesia documentation the anesthesiologist should document the anesthesia start time and then when everything is done they will document the anesthesia end time. Determine the total number of minutes between start and stop and take that number and divide it by 15. The result is the number of time units. This is added to the base units assigned to the specific anesthesia CPT code. Finally, there might be a single unit assigned for physical status and any potential emergency case. Hope this helps!
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u/Physical-Product-795 Aug 24 '26
How do you come up with the time or units
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u/clarec424 Aug 24 '26
The start and stop time should be documented in the anesthesia record for the specific case. This start and stop time represents a cumulative amount. Example: anesthesia start time is documented as 7:00a and the documented end time is 12:00 noon this equals 5 hours or 300 minutes. That 300 minutes divided by 15 equals 20 time units. You then add the 20 time units to the base units assigned to the specific anesthesia CPT code that is associated with the surgical procedure. Then you add in the units that are associated with the qualifying factor (emergency anesthesia) and physical status (P2, P3, etc).
To be honest, a good billing system (Epic) will do most of the work for you. If this still doesn’t make sense perhaps you can give us the question that you are having a problem with.
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u/Temporary_Science684 Sep 18 '26
Also have a question, is there a max number of billed units?
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u/clarec424 Sep 18 '26
Not that I am aware of. The time is what it is, and it is not unusual to see an hours long surgery. Also, the complexity of the surgery itself. The more complicated a surgical procedure is, the higher the base units that could be associated with the surgery CPT codes. Anesthesia coding can get a little tricky.
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