Wiki co-surg thyroid w/mod rad neck dissection

lizard

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Looking for help on this. Tried googling but still not sure.
I have two surgeons one general surgery and one otolaryngology. General surgeon did total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection and reimplantation of the parathyroid gland. The otolaryngologist did a left modified radical neck dissection. I think this qualifies for co-surgery and because all nodes were removed in the left neck and only some in the central that the code will be 60252. From everything I have read the difference between the 60252 and 60254 is that in 60252 only some nodes are removed and in 60254 all nodes are removed. The physicians want to bill separately, 60252 for the surgeon and 38724 for the otolaryngologist. I feel it should defiantly be co surgery or your going to have to add modifiers to some ones claim for not doing the entire surgery (access/closure,ect).
If anyone has more information on what is or the difference between 60252, 60254, and if they include 38724 it would be greatly appreciated. I feel like this is harder than it has to be.
I apologize but I am unable to attach the op report but assuming (I know I know) with the scenario above my question is can the otolaryngologist bill 38724 and the general surgeon bill 60252 or will it be co-surgery 60252-62 for both providers.
 
The differences in dissection codes aren't just in node removal. The link below describes more neck dissection details.
Without seeing the op notes, it's not possible to choose the appropriate code(s).
Hope this helps.
Thank you. That does help. I know it is not possible to code without the report and I apologize but really just needing more of what was in the article. A more detailed description of the cpt codes and what is involved so the article really does help.
Thanks again
 
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