I would like to get your thoughts on an issue that just came up with the cardiology coders regarding hospital follow-up visits on the same day of a procedure that has no global surgery period. For example, patient was in today for an afib ablation and later that same day the physician comes in to check the access site and give patient care instructions for that site. One side of the issue thinks it should be billed since there is no global surgery period, and the other side says this visit is an extension of the procedure and cannot be billed. My thoughts are that it shouldn't be billed; I don't think just because a procedure does not carry surgery days, doesn't mean the visit is automatically billable. I would think there would need to be a separate issue or complication in order to be billable, not just checking the access site. It seems this would be inherent to the ablation procedure. What do you guys think?
Thank you for your input,
Jessica, CPC
Thank you for your input,
Jessica, CPC
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