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Urology Coding Alert

Reader Question:

51990 May Capture Pay for Laparoscopic MMK Procedures

Published on Sun Jun 10, 2012

Question: My urologist is doing a robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer and a robot assisted lap anterior urethropexy (a lap MMK). When we bill the MMK and retropubic fat excision (which the doctor says takes 15-20 minutes on its own), the MMK and fat excision are being denied. What am I doing wrong?Maryland SubscriberAnswer: Without knowing the exact codes you are billing, it's difficult to say what you're "doing wrong," if anything. This is a tricky area as the use of laparoscopy and robot assistance is fairly new and coding does not always keep up with changing technology. Here is how you should report the procedure:For the laparoscopic robotic-assisted prostatectomy, you should report 55866 (Laparoscopy, surgical prostatectomy, retropubic radical, including nerve sparing, includes robotic assistance, when performed). Note that robotic assistance is included in this code. The notation of "includes robotic assistance, when performed" means you should [...]
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