Foreign Body removal-Eyelid

[Lorisvg]

We had a patient come in complaining of a foreign body in his eye. The doc inverted his eyelid, and removed a "speck" foreign body from his eyelid with a Q-tip. It was not embedded. Would this be part of the E/M, or is there another code to use? Thank you everyone for your help.

[ndhight]

374.86 would be for the foreign body in eyelid. I would say it is part of E/M code. Look at code 65235.
Nichole
CPC-A

[Lorisvg]

65235 is for the anterior chamber of the eye (in the eye) this is on the underside of the eyelid

[jharrell]

I agree with Nicole. The Dr didn't make any type of incision to charge the 65235.

Jessica Harrell, CPC

[Lorisvg]

I agree that you wouldn't use 65235 - totally the wrong code. I am wondering if there is a code to use on top of the E/M.

[MsMaddy]

This is not a procedure and the pt came in for that specific reason so it would be just E/M services.

I hope this helped

msmaddy

CPC-A

[daniel]

Hey you might want to research these codes.

CPT 65205- Removal of foreign body, external eye: Conjunctival superficial

CPT 65220- Removal of foreign body, external eye: corneal, without slit lamp.


I had an article of this service being applied in an ER scenario. The Physician used a Q-Tip to remove a speck from the Cornea. And they direct one to use cpt code 65205 or 65220. Which ever applied to the situtation.
Sorry I don't have the exact reference for you to go look it up your self. That's why I think you might want to do some research on these codes for your own knowledge.

I"ve seen payment for these cpt's in my practice.

CPT 65205- $50.01- Payment by Pacificare
CPT 65220- $39.18- Payment by a PPO

Respectfully
Daniel
CPC


p.s- believe some would say these CPT's only apply if the physician uses a beveled edge of a needle to pick off the speck. Which is true in one case, but I think removal with Q-tip is also justified in using this CPT.