Wiki Retained Surgical Clamp

mmarcum

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I have a situation that I'm not sure how to handle. Our cardiovascular surgeon performed an AAA repair and then a different doc (not with our practice) performed a ventral hernia repair. Three weeks later the patient presented to the ER with nausea and vomitting. Abdominal films revealed a retained clamp. At the end of the original AAA case, our doc states that "sponge, instrument, & needle count done". There is no such documentation for the ventral hernia repair.

Our doc was consulted after the patient was admitted for the retained clamp, nausea, & vomitting. My question is am I able to bill for this consult or would it be bundled into the original AAA repair? Thanks for any help you could offer.
 
Maybe

Can you bill for the consult? ... It depends .. what was the reason for the consult?

But there's a different question you should ask ... Should you bill for the consult? Sometimes the best course is to do nothing.

F tessa Bartels, CPC, CPC-E/M
 
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