User Guide — Anesthesia Billing with the Service Type Add-On

athenahealth offers two options for anesthesia billing.

• The first option is a manual process that uses service type add-on fields on the Charge Entry page. This page describes the first, manual option using the service type add-on for anesthesia.
• The second option offers time sheets and time sheet batches that can be used to create anesthesia claims automatically. For information about the automated option using time sheets, see Anesthesia Billing Feature Using Time Sheets.

As part of athenahealth's effort to minimize the volume of claims submitted on paper, and to ensure compliance with HIPAA, athenaOne facilitates electronic submission of anesthesiology claims via the 837P transaction.

The anesthesia service type add-on is visible if your practice has the Anesthesia Service Type Add-On enabled in your practice. You can contact the CSC to request that this function be enabled for your practice.

1. Select the "advanced" view of the Charge Entry page.
2. Enter the claim information as usual.
3. In the Service Type Add-on section, select the Anesthesia option. (This option is available only on the advanced view of the Charge Entry page.) The anesthesia data entry boxes appear.
4. Concurrency — Enter the concurrency level of the provider.
5. Anesthesia Type — Select the type of anesthesia from the menu.
6. Surgeon — Optionally, identify the primary surgeon of an anesthesia case: click the Choose/view link to access the Lookup tool. You can then search for the surgeon by name, specialty, or number.  
   Note: Although this field is not required for anesthesia charge entry, you are strongly encouraged to record this data for future reporting and analysis. This information is not reported in the 837P transaction or on the CMS-1500.
7. Click the arrow to the left of the Anesthesia menu to display the expanded entry fields.
8. Enter the start and end times in 24-hour format for the anesthesia service in the boxes provided beneath the service line (e.g., 14:00—14:30 = 30 total minutes).
9. CPT Code — Enter the corresponding CPT-4 surgical procedure code. This is necessary because not all payers accept ASA codes.
   Note: Although athenaOne does not systematically map CPT codes to ASA codes on the Charge Entry page, rules have been created to compare the ASA code with the code entered in the Procedure field to ensure that they are appropriate.
10. Provider — Select the provider from the menu.
11. Repeat steps 7-10 for additional charge lines.

Note: A column labeled Time Sheet now appears to the right of concurrency. Click the link provided to display the originating time sheet entry as it was originally entered.