Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: Our physician performed a rigid bronchoscopy with lung biopsy on two lobes for a patient. How should we report this encounter to account for the work on both lobes? Can we just report the same code twice with a modifier?


Idaho Subscriber

Answer: You cannot just report the code for  bronchoscopy with lung biopsy twice. If you report 31623 (Bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with or without fluoroscopic guidance; with brushing or protected brushings) twice on the same claim, your insurer will deny the second code, because you are allowed to report 31623  only once per session.

Instead, you should report 31623 for the brushing/biopsy in the first lobe and +31632  (... with transbronchial lung biopsy[s], each additional lobe [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) for the brushing/biopsy in the second lobe.

Since 31632 is an add-on code, you do not need to include any modifiers.