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Radiology Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Try 2 Codes for 2 Chest Views With Ribs

Published on Sat Mar 07, 2009

Question: If the radiologist performs a rib series and a PA/LAT chest x-ray, how should I report it? Pennsylvania Subscriber Answer: Because you have both frontal (AP, anteroposterior) and lateral (LAT) chest views in addition to the rib series, you should report the rib and chest views separately. If the documentation shows two rib views, report the following: • 71100 -- Radiologic examination, ribs, unilateral; two views • 71020 -- Radiologic examination, chest, two views, frontal and lateral. If you instead have three rib views with the AP/LAT chest x-ray, report these codes: • 71110 -- Radiologic examination, ribs, bilateral; three views • 71020. Note that CPT provides a single code if the radiologist documents a single PA chest view with the rib series: • 71101 (Radiologic examination, ribs, unilateral; including posteroanterior chest, minimum of three views).
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