Wiki bladder irrigation post op

[garmab06]

need some clarification for a medicare patient who had a prostatectomy cpt code 52601 and few day later was seen for the bladder irrigation cpt 51700.
Can this be billed with modifier 58.

thank you

 

[Kelly_Mayumi]

Depends... does the patient need the irrigation because of a complication of the procedure?

 

[OCD_coder]

All care in the recovery period is inclusive to the global package per Medicare guidelines this includes routine care and complications unless the patient goes to the OR:
- All additional medical or surgical services required of the surgeon during the post-operative period of the surgery because of complications, which do not require additional trips to the operating room;
- Follow-up visits during the post-operative period of the surgery that are related to recovery from the surgery;
- Post-surgical pain management by the surgeon

Source #1, page 3:
http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Edu...oducts/downloads/GloballSurgery-ICN907166.pdf

Source #2:
Coding with Modifiers: CPT, Medicare, and the Real World
Presented by: Timothy Seth Canterbury, CPC, CPC-I
Date: AAPC On Demand Webinar 9/11/2013