Anesthesia is time-unit math. Miss 15 minutes on an hour-long case and you lose one unit across thousands of cases a year. We track anesthesia time to the minute and document physical status correctly.
We see the same patterns across anesthesiology groups. The leaks are specific, recurring, and fixable with coding discipline and payer-aware claim construction.
Not a complete list. A representative slice of the codes that drive revenue and denials for anesthesiology practices.
| Code | Description | Profile |
|---|---|---|
| 00100 series | Anesthesia by anatomic site | High volume |
| 99100 | Anesthesia for patient of extreme age | Modifier-sensitive |
| 99140 | Anesthesia for emergency condition | Denial-prone |
| QK | Medical direction of 2 to 4 concurrent cases | High volume |
| QX | CRNA with medical direction | Modifier-sensitive |
| QZ | CRNA without medical direction | Denial-prone |
| AA | Anesthesia personally performed by anesthesiologist | High volume |
Time captured from anesthesia start to stop (anesthesia time, not surgery time). Physical status modifier audited against pre-op H&P. Medical direction vs personally performed tracked per case with 7-step TEFRA compliance check. CRNA split billing managed.
Pattern we see. Physical status modifier denied for insufficient documentation, medical direction TEFRA compliance failures, and concurrent case billing errors when one case crosses multiple rooms.
How we fix it. Every denial is logged against its CARC/RARC code and routed to a coder who owns the appeal. We rebuild the claim with the documentation the payer is actually asking for, not a generic reconsideration letter. Recovery rate on appealable anesthesiology denials averages above 60 percent.
A written 30-day diagnostic. Dollar figures against every finding. No obligation.