tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2002 Issue 12

You Be the Coder: Foreign-Body Removal

Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.Question: Our surgeon attempted removal of a foreign body, but after (extensive) exploration, no foreign body was found. Should I still report 10120/10121? Pennsylvania Subscriber Answer: The codes for foreign-body removal (10120 and 10121, Incision and removal of foreign body, subcutaneous tissues; simple or complicated) are not the best choice here, especially because the surgeon didn't remove anything. Although you might report 10120/10121 and append modifier -52 (Reduced services), you'll receive a reduction in reimbursement that likely will not...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci General Surgery Coding Alert.


Leverage vital, to-the-point monthly guidance to boost your reporting accuracy and your coding know-how. We make it convenient for your team to stay informed, compliant, and profitable with a subscription to TCI’s General Surgery Coding Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1999 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • tci General Surgery Coding Alert +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.