Epidural Blood Patch with Labor & Delivery

Question: Are epidural blood patches billable on the same day as labor & delivery?
Answer: Administering a blood patch on the same day as labor and delivery is unusual because most physicians try to manage spinal headaches conservatively before turning to an invasive treatment. Double check a few things before billing the blood patch procedure:

1. Ensure that what you call a blood patch wasn’t simply injecting blood through the epidural catheter before removing it after labor and delivery. If this is the case, you shouldn’t bill the injection separately.
2. If you removed the epidural catheter after the delivery and determined later that day to administer an epidural blood patch, you can report it. Submit 62273 (Injection, epidural, of blood or clot patch) and include documentation of why the procedure was necessary.

Coronis Health will include the appropriate diagnosis code per your medical documentation and may need to add a billing modifier to indicate to the payor that the blood patch was a separate procedure from the labor & delivery.