Only one physician should bill for and interpret cardiac PET-CT scans

Q.

We perform cardiac PET scanning at our facility. After cardiologists read the initial exam, the CT images are stripped and sent to a radiologist to read and they generate an additional report. We do not have a charge for the radiologist’s CT component. Is there a CPT^® code that would allow that?

A.

Note that only one physician can or should bill for this exam. You cannot charge twice for one procedure. The same physician should be able to interpret all the images (both cardiac and non-cardiac). If you use two interpreters, one of the providers will need to bill and reimburse the other should this continue.

To better understand the “do’s and don’ts” when considering split billing, it is strongly suggested that you and your physicians read this white paper from the American College of Radiology (ACR):  https://www.acr.org/Practice-Management-Quality-Informatics/Legal-Practices/Split-Interpretations