About this policy
CMS National Coverage Determination | ncd_id=214 | manual_section=160.21 | coverage_level_code=1 | national_coverage_type=True | under_review=False | lab_ncd=False
Coverage indications
Telephone transmission of EEGs is covered as a physician's service or as incident to a physician's service when reasonable and necessary for the individual patient, under appropriate circumstances. The service is safe, and may save time and cost in sending EEGs from remote areas without special competence in neurology, neurosurgery, and electroencephalography, by avoiding the need to transport patients to large medical centers for standard EEG testing.
Documentation requirements
Item/Service Description: Telephone transmission of EEGs has been most helpful in the following clinical situations: Altered consciousness, such as stuporous, semicomatose, or comatose states; Atypical seizure variants in patients experiencing bizarre, distressing symptoms as seen with "spike and wave stupor" or other forms of seizure disorders; Diagnosis of a suspected intracranial tumor; Head injury, where a subdural hematoma may be identified; Headaches during the acute phase where, for instance, in migraine syndrome, abnormal responses may be seen. Telephonically transmitted EEGs should not be used for determining electrical inactivity (i.e., brain death), because of unavoidable signal interference. Benefit Categories: 33 - Incident to a physician's professional Service; 52 - Physicians' Services
Codes in this policy
Code numbers and each code’s status as the policy records it. CPT code descriptions are left out of this page, as are the passages that cite CPT codes; the official document has them.
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