Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: If Ophthalmologist 2 in our group practice provides post-op care for a patient whom Ophthalmologist 1 operated on, can Ophthalmologist 2 code for his services?

North Carolina Subscriber Answer: Payers will treat two physicians within a practice as one when caring for a patient. Therefore, when one physician from a practice performs an operation, and another physician from the same practice performs the postoperative follow-up, you may not report the follow-up care separately.
 
But if one physician from a practice performs an operation, and a second physician from the same practice needs to take the patient back to surgery for a complication within the global period, the second surgeon may report the procedure by appending modifier -78 (Return to the operating room for a related procedure during the postoperative period) to the appropriate CPT code.  - Advice for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided by Maggie M. Mac, CMM, CPC, CMSCS, consulting manager for Pershing, Yoakley & Associates, Clearwater, Fla; and Raequell Duran, president of Practice Solutions, Santa Barbara, Calif.