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Andrew B. Kairalla MD, Editor

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Highlights from the Southeastern Association of Neonatologists Meeting at Marco Island, May 15-18, 2003

CPT Coding Changes for 2003

Coding for Critical Care Services 2003. Presented by Saul Adler MD, AAP Perinatal Coding Committee.

To qualify for neonatal critical care codes (99295, 99296), infants must be <32 days of age and require artificial support for one of more failing organs, where removal of that care has a high probability of imminent deterioration.

Code 99297 (critically-ill, stable) has been deleted. You no longer have to differentiate between stable and unstable infants.

After 31 daysthe Pediatric Critical Care codes (99294) for (up to 24 months), use qualified infants.99293 and

Low Birth weight code 99298 should be used for subsequent NICU care for non-critical babies who currently weigh < 1500 grams.

New Low Birth weight code 99299 should be used for subsequent NICU care for non-critical babies weighing 1500-2500 grams.

New Transport codes can be used for constant attention during inter-facility transport of critically-ill infants:

99289 – for First 30-74 minutes

99290 – for each additional 30 min

For physician participation in multidisciplinary team conferences, use 99361 (30 min) or 99362 (60 min). You cannot add these to the global codes 99295-99.

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