Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Boost co-surgery, multiple surgery, and bilateral surgery pay for these select procedures. You'll no longer have to eat the cost of your services if your physician acts as co-surgeon on some laparoscopic procedures, thanks to several Medicare Physician fee schedule changes that CMS recently enacted. CMS offered up the following good news in Transmittal 2276, dated Aug. 19, 2011. Look for Potential Co-Surgery Payment for These Codes CMS will change the co-surgery indicator for hand surgery code 26989 (Unlisted procedure, hands or fingers) from "0" (Co-surgeons not permitted) to "1" (Co-surgeons could be paid, supporting documentation required to establish medical necessity of two surgeons for the procedure). Keep in mind that supporting documentation is required when billing for a co-surgeon with these procedures, so don't forget to submit that with your claim or you'll be looking at bad news. The same rule holds true for the following laparoscopy codes [...]