Radiology Coding Alert

CCI offers guidance to protect you from unexpected payback requests. Breast biopsies may not always go as planned, but you still have to know how to code your radiologist's services. Let our experts lead you through an example case so you can learn how to capture all the pay your physician deserves. Start With the Scenario Scenario: Based on mammogram findings of a lump in her right breast (upper inner quadrant), a Medicare patient presents to your radiologist in a facility for an ordered fine needle aspiration (FNA). "Physicians often use FNA to obtain cellular specimens from a breast mass for diagnosis," says Melanie Witt, RN, COBGC, MA, an independent coding consultant in Guadalupita, N.M. For the FNA procedure, the radiologist inserts a thin needle into the breast mass using fluoroscopic guidance and uses the syringe to extract cells, which he sends to pathology for immediate evaluation for adequacy. The [...]