klbrown1
Contributor
I'm posting this in Gen. Surg. and E/M forums since it's a little of both.
Medicare patient has lung cancer (162.9) and has a resection and segmentectomy (32504 and 32484) among other procedures with a 90 day global period. Approx 2 weeks later patient diagnosed with pneumonia (486) and seen several times by same surgeon as in-patient (99233) for treatment of pneumonia.
Can I bill these subsequent hospital days to Medicare? The pneumonia may not be a direct complication of the surgery, but rather a complication of being in the hospital altogether. Are the dx's different enough to be considered non-related?
If I can (or can't) - can you please give a link to whatever documentation you get your answer from?
Medicare patient has lung cancer (162.9) and has a resection and segmentectomy (32504 and 32484) among other procedures with a 90 day global period. Approx 2 weeks later patient diagnosed with pneumonia (486) and seen several times by same surgeon as in-patient (99233) for treatment of pneumonia.
Can I bill these subsequent hospital days to Medicare? The pneumonia may not be a direct complication of the surgery, but rather a complication of being in the hospital altogether. Are the dx's different enough to be considered non-related?
If I can (or can't) - can you please give a link to whatever documentation you get your answer from?