July 11, 2019 Question: If our docs perform two adjacent tissue transfers on two separate lesions in the same anatomic group by CPT standards, do we add the ATTs together and report one code like with the repair codes? Answer: No, if two lesions from the same anatomic group are removed and both require separate...
June 20, 2019 Question: If one of our doctors removes a complex pilonidal cyst that requires a rhomboid flap repair, is the repair part of the code 11772 for complicated excision of the pilonidal cyst? I did not think so, but I know that each procedure includes the approach, the definitive, and closure, so now...
June 6, 2019 Question: My doctor did two adjacent tissue transfers, on the each leg of the patient. The ATT on the left leg was 6sq cm and the one on the right leg was 9sq cm. He wants to bill 14020 with modifier 50, but I don’t think that is correct. Help. Answer: CPT...
May 23, 2019 Question: We are hiring a scribe for the doctor because it will help improve his documentation. Is there anything we need to know about how to document this? Answer: Yes, absolutely. This situation should be clearly delineated so a third party reviewer can identify the provider who performed the service, and the...
May 9, 2019 Question: The plastic surgeon I work with has a question regarding billing. Some of the hospitals in the area have a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant on staff that see the plastic surgery consults for us. My plastic surgeon will also see the consult patient. The mid-level writes the note but my...
April 25, 2019 Question: We get calls from patients to renew their medications. When the patient comes to office to pick up prescription, can we bill for a nurse visit with 99211? Answer: No. CPT makes it very clear that picking up a prescription does not constitute a billable E/M service. *This response is based...
April 11, 2019 Question: My plastic surgeon debrided an open burn wound that was 45 sq cm then placed a split thickness skin graft over the wound. Can I report 11042 (debridement skin and subcutaneous tissue, first 20 sq cm) and +11045 (each additional 20 sq cm) for the debridement in addition to the split...
March 28, 2019 Question: We have a new plastic surgeon and he’s doing a procedure my other guys don’t perform. The patient goes to radiology for injection of radioactive isotopes then to the operating room where my plastic surgeon excises the skin cancer and then injects blue dye and uses a gamma probe to identify...
March 14, 2019 Question: When you inject Botox for migraine headaches, can you bill the injection code more than one time? We normally go about this as a cosmetic procedure, but I just wanted to look into this to see if I could bill out CPT code 64615 for each muscle group that is injected?...
February 28, 2019 Question: What happened to the skin biopsy codes? I submitted a claim for 11101 (skin biopsy) and +11101 (additional lesion) and it was denied for “invalid code.” Answer: CPT deleted CPT codes 11100 and +11101, effective 1/1/19, and replaced them with the follow six new codes: Note that tangential biopsies are partial...
