New options replace 49420 for tunneled catheter. Choosing an intraperitoneal catheter insertion used to mean deciding between “permanent” and “temporary” — but CPT 2011 changes all that. Now you’ll need to know if the procedure is open, lap...
Until now, you could not code for the additional service — and hence not get the pay — when your general surgeon placed interstitial devices for radiation therapy guidance during a distinct open or laparoscopic abdominal procedure. But two new CPT 2011 codes for the procedure help you capture all the pay you deserve.
Open, Lap, or Percutaneous Approach Distinguish Placement
Last year, you had one code to use when your surgeon placed an abdominal interstitial device for radiation therapy guidance — 49411 (Placement of interstitial device[s] for radiation therapy guidance [e.g., fiducial markers, dosimeter], percutaneous, intra-abdominal, intra-pelvic [except prostate], and/or retroperitoneum, single or multiple).
“If your surgeon performed the device placement during an open or laparoscopic procedure prior to 2011, you had no way to capture the service,” says Marcella Bucknam, CPC, CCS-P, CPC-H, CCS, CPC-P, COBGC, CCC, manager of compliance education for the University of Washington Physicians Compliance Program in Seattle.
Now CPT 2011 adds two new add-on codes to describe interstitial device placement during another procedure, as follows:
Choose +49327 for a laparoscopic approach, and +49412 for an open procedure. “Note that these are add-on codes, which means you can report them only in addition to a primary procedure,” Bucknam advises.
Continue to report 49411 for percutaneous interstitial device placement as a stand-alone procedure.
Use codes 49411, +49412, and +49327...
Think outside the box for iliac atherectomy.
Are you ready to apply CPT’s new revascularization codes starting January 1? Check out these six tips to get you on your way.
CPT 2011 offers up new codes to help you report services more accurately, including endovascular revascularization, says Marcella Bucknam, CPC, CCS-P, CPC-H, CCS, CPC-P, COBGC, CCC, manager of compliance education for the University of Washington Physicians Compliance Program in Seattle.
Specifically, CPT 2011 adds several new codes that represent lower extremity endovascular revascularization, meaning angioplasty, atherectomy, and stenting. Here’s how the codes break down:
In this article, iliac artery services are the focus. Look to future articles to discuss femoral, popliteal, and tibial/peroneal services.
Watch Procedure and Vessel to Choose Among 37220-+37223
The new iliac service codes are as follows:
Reading through the definitions, you see that the codes for iliac services differ based on whether you’re coding a service in an initial vessel or in an additional vessel. Your options also differ based on whether you’re reporting (1) angioplasty alone or...
Can you find codes in 2010’s resequencing mess? We show you how. Reporting your general surgeon’s service with an unlisted code means more documentation work and a payment guessing game — that’s why you’ll welcome CPT 2010’s more specific codes. General surgery can get all the details at this on-demand, specialty-specific audio update. But we won’t keep you in [...] Related articles: