Orthopedic Coding Alert

Question: The hospital requires an H&P on all surgeries, including staged procedures. Can we bill for this since the hospital will not let the physician do the surgery without one? The patient is not covered by Medicare.

Anonymous GA Subscriber

Answer: Whenever a physician performs an H&P just to meet the requirements of the hospital, and to perform any other required paperwork functions prior to a planned surgery, the appropriate diagnosis code to use is V72.83 (other specified preoperative examination). Most carriers will then consider this a bundled service.