Len- Eleven years ago we bought a used Novametrics pulse-oximeter from a used medical supply place in Dallas. The idea was to make sure that our practices were going to make it before investing a lot of money and then if we stayed we'd replace it and some other items with new stuff. Well, that pulse ox is still going and going. I have had to replace the infant probe once but I think the finger probe is still the original. It's kept in the triage room and the nurses check it at the time of the other vitals if they feel it's needed. Occasionally, after my exam I will ask for an SaO2 check on a child that hadn't had one at triage but that is rare. Also, we will occasionally take it out of the triage room to an examining room if we are putting someone on Oxygen or I like to put it on while I'm doing a lumbar puncture on infants. We used to buy the fancy bandaid type adhesives that were made specifically for the infant probe but they are quite expensive for spot checks and find that silk tape around the little probes work just as well. I keep forgetting to ask my billing sec. if we get paid for the spot checks but I do have a code for it on my superbill and mark it if the measurement was important in the management of the patient- for example, multiple checks pre and post neb treatments. If the nurse took an O2 sat at the time of triage because the chief complaint is a cough and when I do my history and physical and the cough is due to a cold I don't charge for it. Regards- Kim Burlingham, MD rural peds, Texas -----Original Message----- From: Len Leshin <> To: <> Date: Monday, February 12, 2001 2:15 PM Subject: office pulse oximeters >Do you check pulse oximetry in your office? If so, which model do you >have? What do you charge and what is your reimbursement rate? > > >Len Leshin, MD, FAAP > > > > >