Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Why modifiers and a signed ABN can make the difference

If you don't want to get caught absorbing the cost of an uncovered service that a patient requests or the surgeon recommends, you should reach for modifier GA and an advance beneficiary notice (ABN). Properly used, the modifier/ABN combination allows you to collect payment directly from the patient. Modifier GA Alerts Medicare of ABN The proper time to have the patient sign an ABN is before providing the service or procedure for which you want to recoup payment. In some circumstances, you may not know for certain if Medicare will cover the service. When in doubt, protect yourself and request that the patient sign an ABN, says Jeff Fulkerson, BA, CPC, CMC, certified coder at The Emory Clinic in Atlanta.

After the patient has signed the ABN, you must inform Medicare by appending modifier GA (Waiver of liability statement on file) to the CPT code describing the (suspected) noncovered service or procedure.

When Medicare sees the GA modifier, it will send an explanation of benefits (EOB) to the patient confirming that he is responsible for payment. If you don't append the modifier, Medicare will not inform the patient of his responsibility.

Example: A patient with chronic lower-back pain requests an epidural injection (62311, Injection, single [not via indwelling catheter], not including neurolytic substances, with or without contrast [for either localization or epidurography], of diagnostic or therapeutic substance[s] [including anesthetic, antispasmodic, opioid, steroid, other solution], epidural or subarachnoid; lumbar, sacral [caudal]).

This patient has already received six such injections in the past 12 months--the maximum number his Medicare carrier will reimburse in a one-year period without extenuating circumstances.

Because you are unsure if Medicare will cover the procedure, you ask the patient to sign an ABN. The ABN outlines the service the surgeon will provide (epidural injection) and the reason Medicare may reject payment (excessive frequency).

The surgeon provides the injection, and you report the service using 62311 with modifier GA appended. In this case, because the patient has exceeded the frequency guidelines, Medicare denies the claim and sends the patient an EOB. Use GY for Statutorily Noncovered Services You don't need to ask the patient to sign an ABN when the surgeon performs procedures or services that Medicare never covers (such as intradiskal electrothermal therapy, 0062T, Percutaneous intradiskal annuloplasty, any method, unilateral or bilateral including fluoroscopic guidance; single level).

The physician may still ask the patient to sign an ABN to verify that he is responsible for the service's cost, Fulkerson says. Or, more appropriately, the physician could ask the patient to sign a Notice of Exclusions from Medicare Benefits form (which simply states that the service is not a covered Medicare benefit). And, some [...]