The following information appeared on, Noridian Medicare.
Noridian has a very helpful Anesthesia and Pain Management guide that was released April 2021. Of interest to all, is the multiple procedure reduction instructions in the guide under MULTIPLE PROCEDURES: “A physician bills for the anesthesia services associated with multiple bilateral surgeries by reporting the anesthesia procedure with the highest base unit value. The total time for all procedures is reported in the line item with the highest base unit value. If the same anesthesia CPT code applies to two or more of the surgical procedures, billers enter the anesthesia code and the number of surgeries to which the modi-fied CPT code applies. Payment can be made under the fee schedule for anesthesia services associated with multiple surgical procedures or multiple bilateral procedures. Payment is determined based on the base unit of the anesthesia procedure with the highest base unit value and time units based on the actual anesthesia time of the multiple procedures. “Noridian automatically adds modifier 51, when applicable.”
