tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2015 Issue 9

Reader Questions: Express Halted Surgical Procedure Using Modifier 53

Question: Our surgeon prepped and positioned a patient for repair of a recurrent inguinal hernia. But before administration of anesthesia, the patient complained of chest pain. Cardiac monitoring revealed ST segment changes. The surgeon cancelled the procedure. How should I code this? Virginia Subscriber Answer: Because the surgeon cancelled the procedure before making an incision, you can’t bill for a discontinued procedure. Instead, you’ll need to report an appropriate E/M code for your surgeon’s services If the surgeon had discontinued the procedure after the first incision, you would bill 49520 (Repair recurrent inguinal hernia, any age...

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