Gastroenterology Coding Alert

2 requirements open the door to adding on 44950-44970. Do you assume payers will bundle appendectomies into most other abdominal procedures? Automatically skipping over the appendectomy codes for every case could cost your surgeon approximately $80 to $779 in deserved reimbursement. There are circumstances when you can -- and should -- separately report appendectomy procedures. Here's how to capture added pay without unbundling. 'Healthy' Removal = No Pay Medicare and most other payers will not pay separately for the removal of a healthy appendix. Reasoning: Surgeons may perform appendectomies during the course of more extensive abdominal procedures.Sometimes, the surgeon will even remove a healthy appendix simply because he already has the patient's abdomen open and removing the appendix eliminates a potential health problem down the road. In fact, finding appendicitis in a patient during the course of another procedure is not a common occurrence, experts say. Example: Your surgeon may remove a [...]