tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2003 Issue 5

Reader Question: Report Open Procedure When Converting

Question: How should I code if the physician must convert a laparoscopic cholecystectomy to an open cholecystectomy? Maine SubscriberAnswer: Medicare guidelines specify that you should report the open procedure only when converting from a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In addition, you should append a secondary diagnosis of V64.4 (Laparoscopic surgical procedure converted to open procedure) to further describe the procedure's circumstances.If the surgeon performed a significant portion of the procedure laparoscopically before converting to the open procedure, you may append modifier -22 (Unusual procedural services) and increase your fee. But be certain to have sufficient documentation supporting your claim...

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.