AMA CPT® Assistant - 2012 Issue 3 (March)
Surgery: Operating Microscope (Q&A) (March 2012)
March 2012 page 9b Surgery: Operating Microscope Question: If a neurosurgeron and an ENT perform a -cosurgery and they both use the operating microscope to complete their portion of the procedure, may both physicians report code 69990 , Microsurgical techniques, requiring use of operating microscope (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure), with Modifier 62 , Two Surgeons, appended? Answer: No. Code 69990 should be reported only once per operative session. Code 69990 Â does not only represent the work of setting up, calibrating, positioning, and adjusting the operating microscope when brought into the surgical field, but it also represents...
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Article Overview
This article is a short CPT-oriented Q&A from CPT Assistant that discusses operating microscope reporting in surgical cases. It is relevant to surgeons, coders, and compliance staff who work with microsurgical procedures and co-surgery scenarios, and it addresses general reporting guidance, modifier use, and references to AMA/RBRVS policy context.
Why This Topic Matters
It helps readers understand how the operating microscope service is treated in surgical reporting and why payer or coding policy context matters when more than one physician is involved.
What You Will Learn
- How operating microscope reporting is addressed in a surgical Q&A format.
- What general policy context is cited for reporting the service in a co-surgery setting.
- How modifier use is discussed in relation to this type of reporting guidance.
- How the article frames the relationship between the microscope service and primary procedure reporting.
Who Should Read This
- CPT coders
- surgeons
- billing staff
- compliance professionals
- practice managers
Codes Discussed
Modifiers Discussed
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