Mind Your Modifiers When Your Surgeon Works With Others

Posted on 16. Feb, 2009 by Editor.

Automatically appending modifier 52 could be costing you hundreds.

When your surgeon works with another physician during a procedure, you can face major coding challenges. If you don’t coordinate your coding with the other physician’s coder, both doctors could lose money and face audits.

Learn how to correctly code for these shared procedures with this real-world case study.

AUDIO CD: Two-fers! How to get paid for co-surgery and surgical assistance.

Review the Surgical Case

Scenario: A urologist and a general surgeon performed surgery on a patient. The urologist did the orchiopexy and performed the opening and closing. The general surgeon performed an inguinal hernia repair.

Coding dilemma: Which codes should each physician report, and what modifiers should the coders use,

Continue Reading