Normal Saline

Is Normal saline always coded as a hydation or could it be coded as a theraputic infusion given the right circumstances?
Example:
A patient comes in for nausea and vomiting per physician orders they are to receive IVF NS
Zofran 16mg. IV

The drugs were given as followed:
Normal Saline Dose 0.9% in 1000 ml. IV infusion start 1000 D/C'd:1235
Zofran Dose 16mg in 100 ML of NS IV infusion Start 1002 D/C'd 1022

Please help!

fluids

When the physician uses fluids to administer the drug, the fluid administration is considered incidental hydration and is not reported separately. Separate payment can be made for hydration fluid provided sequentially but not concurrently to the Zofran dose. Coding and billing of IV hydration is solely dependent upon accurate and legible medical record documentation, and this should be your starting point. there must be sufficient documentation to decipher whether a flush versus hydration was performed. If only a flush (clearing of lines) is performed, the procedure is not coded. Codes 96360 – 96361 are assigned for IV hydration. IV hydrations of 30 minutes or less are not reportedIV Hydration codes should only be billed with Therapeutic Infusion codes if the hydrations are given before or after the therapeutic infusion (if both infusions given simultaneously, the provider should not bill for IV hydration).

Normal Saline

In this case the Normal saline was not a flush. The NS was given for a theraputic reason.