Outpatient Facility Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Bundle Catheter Placement into TUIP Code

Question: The surgeon performs a cystoscopy with transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP) on a patient with benign hypertrophic prostatitis. What CPT® code am I reporting? May I report the catheter placement separately?

Indiana Subscriber

Answer: During a TUIP procedure, the surgeon will pass a resectoscope into the tip of the penis to the prostate. The surgeon then makes one or two incisions or cuts through the bladder neck and into the prostate. Next, the provider will insert a catheter from the tip of the penis into the bladder for drainage purposes.

It’s first important to know that the catheter insertion is an inherent component of a TUIP procedure. You will only report one code for this service, 52450 (Transurethral incision of prostate). Make sure not to mix up this service with a transurethral resection of the prostate procedure, 52601 (Transurethral electrosurgical resection of prostate, including control of postoperative bleeding, complete (vasectomy, meatotomy, cystourethroscopy, urethral calibration and/or dilation, and internal urethrotomy are included)). A TURP is a much more complicated procedure in which the surgeon resects a portion of the prostate.