mediloop
Billing codes

Revenue code 0320

Radiology, diagnostic

The hospital's charge for diagnostic imaging: x-rays, and in many hospitals the technical side of CT (0350), MRI (0610) and ultrasound (0402) too. It is the facility half of an imaging charge. The radiologist who read the images bills separately for the professional half.

Watch out

Where this line goes wrong

Two charges per scan is normal, but check they match

A CT of the abdomen should show as one facility line (74177 under 0350) and one radiologist line (74177 with modifier 26). Two facility lines for one scan, or a radiologist charge for a scan the facility did not bill, is an error.

With, without, or both

CT and MRI have separate codes for scans without contrast, with contrast, and both. A scan done both ways should be billed with the single combined code (74178 for abdomen and pelvis), not as two separate scans.

Views and repeats

X-rays are coded by number of views. A repeat because the first image was unusable is not normally billable to you.

What to do

Check it, then ask

  1. 1

    Ask for the itemized bill and the imaging report, and match each billed study to a report.

  2. 2

    Check that the facility line and the radiologist line describe the same study.

  3. 3

    For CT and MRI, check whether a 'with and without contrast' scan has been billed as two scans.

The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: You got an ER bill.

Think this line is wrong?

For $49, a mediloop specialist reads your itemized bill and EOB, if available, checks every code against the record and available pricing, flags the lines to dispute, and prepares a step-by-step plan with the exact wording to send. It appears in your account within 24 hours after all required documents arrive.

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Questions

People also ask

Why did I get a separate bill from a radiologist I never met?

The radiologist read your images and bills for that professional service. It is legitimate, but if the radiologist was out of network for an emergency visit, federal surprise billing rules limit what you can be charged.

Sources

This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.