Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Knowing the difference can mean $262 to your practice.Two retinal repair codes top coders' charts as the most difficult to use: 67108 (Repair of retinal detachment; with vitrectomy, any method, with or without air or gas tamponade, focal endolaser photocoagulation, cryotherapy, drainage of subretinal fluid, scleral buckling, and/or removal of lens by same technique) and 67112 (... by scleral buckling or vitrectomy, on patient having previous ipsilateral retinal detachment repair[s] using scleral buckling or vitrectomy techniques).The confusion surrounding CPT codes 67108 and 67112 is attributable to the similarity in the language used in their descriptors and the failure of CPT to instruct coders onwhich code should be used for recurrent repairs. As a general rule, coders think of CPT code 67108 as representing an initial retinal detachment repair procedure and 67112 as representing subsequent retinal detachment repairs. But this rule of thumb does not always apply, and that's a good [...]