tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2002 Issue 7

Reader Question: Completion Thyroidectomy

Question: The surgeon performed a "completion thyroidectomy." Another physician had previously performed a left lobectomy with biopsy of right lobe. Should I use 60260 or 60220? The pathology report notes that the biopsy "consists of a 20-gram partial thyroidectomy specimen." How did a biopsy become a partial thyroidectomy? Alabama SubscriberAnswer: The correct code is 60260 (Thyroidectomy, removal of all remaining thyroid tissue following previous removal of a portion of thyroid), not 60220 (Total thyroid lobectomy, unilateral; with or without isthmusectomy). The fact that another surgeon performed the original thyroidectomy is not important because the code descriptor refers...

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.