Orthopedic Coding Alert

CCI 15.3 brings big changes for fluoro and moderate sedation reporting. If your orthopedist frequently relies on fluoroscopic guidance or sometimes reports moderate sedation for procedures, the latest Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edits bring big changes for your coding. CCI 15.3 went into effect Oct. 1 and includes thousands of new, swapped, and terminated code pairs you need to implement -- especially since some changes could hit your bottom line. CCI 15.3 includes 18,320 new edit pairs, according to a summary report by Frank Cohen, PA, of MIT Solutions, Inc. in Clearwater, Fla. "The overwhelming majority have a modifier indicator of 0, meaning you cannot use a modifier even if you think it is appropriate," Cohen stated in a press release. Watch Moderate Sedation With Surgery The most frequent codes you'll see in new edits represent moderate sedation: • 99148 -- Moderate sedation services (other than those services described by codes 00100-01999), [...]