General Surgery Coding Alert

Question: When a bariatric surgery patient comes to the office for a lap band fill, how can we bill for the  service if an RN performs this follow-up procedure? Arkansas Subscriber Answer: Correct coding depends on the payer, and your code selection also may vary by region for national payers, such as Medicare. There is a HCPCS Level 2 code, S2083 (Adjustment of gastric band diameter via subcutaneous port by injection or aspiration of saline), that some payers may require, although typically Medicare won't accept it. If your payer doesn't want you to use S2083, you'll have to report the service with unlisted code 43999 (Unlisted procedure, stomach). Watch global period: You should not bill for a lap band fill during the global period of the original lap band placement, no matter who performs the service. After the end of the global period, you may separately bill for adjusting the [...]