Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: I bill post-op visits with CPT code 99024 and charge $0. Sometimes it goes through, but today I had a status message that BCBS rejected my claim with three services of post-op visits stating: "at least one line item charge amount must be > than zero." I should not be charging anything for the post-op visits, so what do I do? Washington Subscriber Answer: Don't bother billing out the zero-dollar post op services with 99024 (Postoperative follow-up visit, normally included in the surgical package, to indicate that an evaluation and management service was performed during a postoperative period for a reason[s] related to the original procedure). You should delete the claims and disregard the rejected claims. Request assistance from your software support technicians on setting up your system to stop billing for zero-charge services. Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) does not want to track non charges. In fact, most [...]