Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Question: What are the proper codes for a patient with ductal carcinoma in situ who receives HDR brachytherapy twice daily (MammoSite)? She had a single balloon catheter inserted after a lumpectomy, and it's one source, one channel. I need the codes for just the treatment. New York Subscriber Answer: The correct CPT code for the breast brachytherapy you describe is 77785 (Remote afterloading high dose rate radionuclide brachytherapy; 1 channel). Note that this code was added in 2009. For 2008 services, you instead reported now-deleted code 77781 (Remote afterloading high intensity brachytherapy; 1-4 source positions or catheters). You may report 77785 for each treatment, so if the patient has treatment twice daily for five days, you would report the following to a typical payer for each date of service: • 77785 • 77785-76 (Repeat procedure by same physician). By appending modifier 76 to the second service, you tell the payer [...]