Anesthesia Start Time – When Does it Start?
Anesthesia time starts when the anesthesiologist begins to prepare the patient for anesthesia care in the operating suite or equivalent area.
Time ends when the anesthesiologist is no longer in personal attendance and the patient may be safely placed under post-operative supervision
Medicare requires the actual time in number of minutes to be reported in box 24G of the HCFA 1500 form.
Example: 1hour and 27 minutes of anesthesia is reported as 87 minutes in box 24G.
Most other carriers allow the time fraction of a unit to constitute one unit.
Example: 47 minutes of anesthesia may be billed as 4 time units.
