tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2012 Issue 3

Reader Question: Removal or Ablation Drives Code Choice

Question: As part of a colonoscopy, the surgeon noted internal hemorrhoids, which he ablated using hot biopsy forceps, and a raised sessile diminutive polyp in the sigmoid colon. What procedure code(s) should we use?New York SubscriberAnswer: The answer to your question depends on whether any of the diminutive polyp was removed for pathology analysis, and if so, by what method. If the surgeon used the hot biopsy forceps to ablate the hemorrhoids and take the polyp biopsy, then you should report 45384 (Colonoscopy, flexible, proximal to splenic flexure; with removal of tumor[s], polyp[s], or other lesion[s] by hot...

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.