MedAbbrev, now by innoviHealth, has been the industry standard for medical abbreviations and acronyms since 1983. Quick and easy access for hospitals, providers, coders, transcriptionists, students and researchers to over 75,000 entries. With clear and accurate standardization that is always current, medical professionals can reduce the chance of error stemming from misunderstood abbreviations.
tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2003 Issue 6
READER QUESTION: Medicare Specifies -AS for PAs in Surgery
Question: In the past, Ive always reported modifier -80 for a certified PA in the operating room. But recently Ive been instructed that modifier -81 is correct.
Delaware SubscriberAnswer: The correct modifier depends on your payer. Modifier -80 (Assistant surgeon) describes a second physician in the operating room who acts as an extra pair of hands to assist the primary surgeon. A common example is when an orthopedic surgeon and a general surgeon work together during placement of spinal instrumentation (for example, 22842, Posterior segmental instrumentation [e.g., pedicle fixation, dual rods with multiple hooks and sublaminar wires]; 3...
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: