tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2003 Issue 3

Reader Question: Use HCPCS Modifiers to Report PA Surgery Assist

Question: When a physician assistant (PA) assists in surgery on an outpatient basis, does this fit the incident-to definition? When billing incident-to, should I use the surgeon's information at all on the claim? Utah SubscriberAnswer: A PA can bill for assisting in surgery under Medicare by appending HCPCS modifier -AS (Physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist services for assistant at surgery) to the CPT code, provided the procedure is billable under Medicare's guidelines. If a physician assists in surgery, he or she reports the same CPT code that the surgeon uses and adds -80 (Assistant surgeon) or...

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