Wiki modifier help

[lesliecoleman]

Hello, I have a surgeon that went into the outpatient setting to do a procedure. The patient crashed once the anesthesia was given therefore the procedure was never done. Can the doc still bill for the time that he spent reviving and stabalizing the patient?? Not sure if the procedure code could be billed with a modifier or if I need to use a totally seperate code.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
Leslie

 

[miabell]

I know the ASC would still bill for services using a 73 and you can use a 53 for the physician services. I hope this helps.

Mia

 

[FTessaBartels]

Code what was done/documented

If no incision was made I would not code the procedure with a -53 modifier. But if your surgeon was involved with resuscitation of the patient, you can code CPR or E/M - including critical care (if apprpriately documented, and 30 minutes or more was spent). Just be sure that if you go the critical care route, you CANNOT count the time spent performing CPR as part of the critical care time.

Hope that helps.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC