tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2004 Issue 10

Reader Questions: Claim Appendectomy, Bariatric Surgery Separately

Question: While performing gastroenterostomy, the surgeon also removed the patient's appendix. May we report this procedure separately?Michigan Subscriber Answer: Surgeons often remove the appendix during bariatric surgery (for example, 43846, Gastric restrictive procedure, with gastric bypass for morbid obesity; with short limb [less than 100 cm] Roux-en-Y gastroenterostomy). You may report removal of the appendix separately using 44950 (Appendectomy) - as long as the surgeon encounters evidence of an inflamed appendix (in other words, medical necessity must support the removal of the appendix). Surgeons may remove the appendix as a preventive measure during bariatric surgery, but unless...

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