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Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Don't Waste Time Billing $0 Charges

Published on Mon Nov 16, 2009

Question: I bill post-op visits with 99024 and charge $0. Sometimes it goes through, but today I had a status message that BCBS rejected my claim with three services of post-op visits stating: "at least one line item charge amount must be > than zero." What do I do? Washington Subscriber Answer: Don't bother billing out the zero-dollar post-op services with 99024 (Postoperative follow-up visit, normally included in the surgical package, to indicate that an evaluation and management service was performed during a postoperative period for a reason[s] related to the original procedure). You should delete the claims and disregard the rejected claims. Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) does not want to track non-charges. In fact, most payers only want follow-up or post-op care submissions that contain fees. Suggestion: The patient's medical record should contain documentation of any post-op visit. You may also want to post the charge to your [...]
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