Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Intent and method guide you to appropriate codes. When your gastroenterologist performs an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), you'll definitely report accurate codes if you observe specifically the reason and method used for the procedure. This coding refresher will help point you in the right direction.Check Reason for the ProcedureYour gastroenterologist can perform an ERCP procedure with diagnostic or therapeutic intent. "A typical scenario for an ERCP is that the patient has continued epigastric pain in the ER, as an inpatient, or as an observation patient. A CT scan is done which is abnormal. Because of the abnormal CT, our physicians will perform an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for the epigastric pain, then an ERCP for the abnormal CT," says Heather Copen, RHIT, CCS-P, Financial Advocate-Goshen OB/GYN and Goshen GI, IU Health-Goshen Physicians, Goshen, Indiana. Over the past decade or more, other low-risk or risk-free procedures have entered the field such as endoscopic [...]