Question

A patient in her second trimester with a triplet pregnancy is seen in the Obstetricians office for an obstetrical ultrasound only to obtain fetal heartbeats and positions of the fetus's what CPT code is reported for ultrasound

Answer 1

First of all, CPT codes or Common Procedural Technology are numbers assigned to specific tasks and medical services.

Obstetrical Ultrasounds are coded depending on the service needed it, for example, the code 76816 is to examine fetal size or organs systems. Moreover, there are a code for each type of study, some of them are 76801, 76802, 76805, 76810, 76811, 76812, and 76817.

However, in this case, the patient needs to obtain fetal heartbeats and positions, which can be done with the code 76811, because allows to obtain detailed information about the fetal anatomy as such, like brain, ventricles, face heart, abdominal organs, the umbilical cord, and more. But, to use this code there must be needed elements from the code 76805 which is the ultrasound to see the pregnant uterus and real time images.

Actually, to use these codes, 76801, 76805, and 76811, they must be accompanied with other CPT codes, because some additional information is needed.

Therefore, if it's more detailed information needed, 76811 code is used.

Answer 2

The CPT code for second trimester obstetrical ultrasound with a fetal anatomical evaluation to obtain fetal heartbeat and fetus’s position is CPT code 76811.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the CPT code 76811 ultrasound is a pregnant uterus real-time ultrasound complete with image documentation performed to diagnose fetal anomalies. It is done during the second trimester of pregnancy with various indications like twin, triplet, or quadruplet pregnancy; suspected fetal any genetic or anatomic anomalies; maternal gestational diabetes, obesity etc. Fetal anatomical structures like abdomen, chest (heart), extremities, head, face and neck, spine, and position of the fetus are examined under this ultrasound. This ultrasound provides fetal 4-chamber heart view with heart activities to identify any fetal or congenital heart defects