Radiology Coding Alert

Don't let 'wrong surgery' modifier mistakes stall your reimbursement. You use modifier TC for the technical component of a test. So logically, you should use modifier PC for the professional component, right? Wrong. But many coders are making that mistake and causing their practices unnecessary denial hassles. Here's what you need to know. Get 'Wrong Surgery' Modifiers Right When practitioners perform erroneous surgeries, CMS requires the hospital outpatient department, ambulatory surgical center (ASC), physician, or other entity to append one of the following three modifiers to codes for services related to the erroneous procedure effective Jan. 15, 2009: • PA -- Surgical or other invasive procedure on wrong body part • PB -- Surgical or other invasive procedure on wrong patient • PC -- Wrong surgery or other invasive procedure on patient. "Unfortunately, the introduction of these new modifiers has caused much confusion and they are often being submitted incorrectly," says Sandra Jongebreur, [...]