General Surgery Coding Alert

Question: Following an intraumbilical incision and entering the abdominal cavity with a laparoscope, our surgeon performed the following procedures:

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Answer: Yes, you should be able to report all three services.

The correct codes for the three procedures are:

• 58661 -- Laparoscopy, surgical; with removal of adnexal structures (partial or total oophorectomy and/or salpingectomy )

• 44238 -- Unlisted laparoscopy procedure, intestine (except rectum)

• 47379 -- Unlisted laparoscopic procedure, liver.

When the surgeon performs multiple laparoscopic surgical procedures, you should code each separately.

Tip: Because you're reporting unlisted procedure codes, be sure to include comparison codes for pricing those procedures.

No modifier: You can report all three codes without modifier 59 (Distinct procedural service) because there are no bundling issues with these three codes. You probably don't need to use modifier 51 (Multiple procedures) either, because 51 is an informational modifier that most payers don't require.