“If at any time the goal of performing a test is to acquire data that can assist in patient management, and it is medically necessary and appropriate, it is a billable service,” write Jonathan Rubenstein, MD, and Mark Painter.
If you perform a bladder scan and the residual is 0 mL, can you still charge for the bladder scan?
Yes, you can bill for a bladder scan even if the residual is 0 mL—if the indication for checking the postvoid residual (PVR) was medically necessary and the results are used in patient management. If at any time the goal of performing a test is to acquire data that can assist in patient management, and it is medically necessary and appropriate, it is a billable service. For example, if a patient with a history of kidney stones has flank pain and was ordered for a renal ultrasound, the service would be billed even if the patient ended up not having a stone. Please remember that medical necessity is the overarching criteria for billing any service, so there must be a medically necessary reason for checking the PVR. It cannot be done merely because the patient arrives in a urologist’s office.
