Internal Medicine Coding Alert
Multiple Visits During Global Period
PDF
Question: We performed an I&D on a sebaceous cyst and used CPT code 10060. This code has a 10-day postoperative period. But the patient had to return every two days to have the site repacked, for a total of five postprocedure visits. Are these five visits included in the global? Should we have used a different code? Alabama Subscriber Answer: Yes, most carriers consider these visits part of the global package. Though CPT's definition of the global surgical package does not include visits to treat complications resulting from a minor surgical procedure, most payers follow Medicare's not CPT's global surgical package guidelines. Medicare states that all visits related to the surgical procedure are covered during the global period. CPT 10060* (Incision and drainage of abscess [e.g., carbuncle, suppurative hidradenitis, cutaneous or subcutaneous abscess, cyst, furuncle, or paronychia]; simple or single) sounds like the appropriate code based on your brief description of the procedure. You would select another code only if it more accurately describes the procedure performed, not because it has a different global period. Answers to You Be The Coder and Reader Questions were provided by Kathy Pride, CPC, CCS-P, HIM, applications specialist with QuadraMed, a national healthcare information technology and consulting firm in San Rafael, Calif.; and Judy Richardson, RN, MSA, CCS-P, a senior consultant at Hill and Associates, a coding and compliance consulting firm in Wilmington, N.C.
Internal Medicine Coding Alert
- Is Your Office Getting Stuck? Increase Reimbursement With a Coumadin Coding Checkup
Coding differs when practices use in-office finger stick devices rather than outside laboratories to monitor [...] - Coumadin Coding Varies in Less Common Scenarios
Occasionally, a Coumadin patient sees the physician instead of the nurse or requires repeat testing [...] - Avoid the Top Five Coumadin Coding Errors
Mistakes in coding for Coumadin monitoring can cause denials or, even worse, compliance problems. There [...] - You Be the Coder:
TPN Coding by Physician
Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the [...] - Correctly Code the INs and OUTs of Nursing-Home Patients
When a patient is discharged from a hospital and admitted to a nursing facility on [...] - ICD-9 Coding A Screening Is a Screening Is a Screening
Many coders are unsure what to do when a screening test turns up a problem [...] - Reader Question:
Patient Not Seen on Admission Day
Question: Our physician was called at home by the hospital late at night to OK [...] - Reader Question:
Second Opinion on DNR
Question: How should I code an inpatient consultation requesting a second opinion on a DNR [...] - Reader Question:
PCP Referral Without Exam
Question: A patient has insurance coverage that requires her to go to her primary-care physician [...] - Reader Question:
Two Providers,One Lesion
Question: Two providers (one an MD, the other a nurse practitioner) worked together to remove [...] - Reader Question:
Multiple Visits During Global Period
Question: We performed an I&D on a sebaceous cyst and used CPT code 10060. This [...]