Q One of our doctors performed a pelvic Doppler study of the ovarian vessel on a gynecologic patient with abdominal pain and an ovarian cyst. Which CPT code should we report, since there is no exact match?
A I would use code 93976 (duplex scan of arterial inflow and venous outflow of abdominal, pelvic, scrotal contents and/or retroperitoneal organs; limited study). CPT defines the duplex scan as an ultrasound that shows the pattern and direction of blood flow in arteries and veins using real-time images. This code includes color-flow Doppler mapping, if performed.
If the clinician also performed a transvaginal ultrasound to view the ovarian cyst, you may bill code 76830 (ultrasound, transvaginal) as well—just be sure there is medical justification for the second approach and the findings for that approach are documented separately.