Billing Preops for cancelled surgeries

[secoy]

Quick question for any of the attendings out there. If a case is cancelled for whatever reason, but the preop has been done; can you bill for the preop? If so, what cpt codes are you using? 99231 or something else?

A buddy tells me his pratice has always billed for preops performed on cancelled surgery.

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[Jay K]

You can bill an evaluation and management code for the preop, however keep in mind that patients may already be distressed that their case has been cancelled and will now receive a bill from the anesthesia service - that's not exactly excellent PR. It may be more appropriate to bill the preop if it was a consult requested by surgeon/patient, and for some reason the patient decided against elective surgery; Then paying for your time is reasonable.

I'm sure others may disagree with the above, always abiding by "your time is money," but sometimes promoting a little good will, advancing the good name of your practice, etc is worth the loss in income. I'd make it a case-specific practice depending on the circumstances.