Start of new global period

[doodiebuggy]

Good Morning All:

My surgeon did an ACL Reconstruction on a patient, all went well with surgery and during recoup period. However, two weeks after the surgery the patient tripped and popped her knee out of the brace. She reinjured the ACL ligament and the doc had to take her back to surgery again to repair the retorn ACL ligament.

My question is, I billed the initial surgery as 29888 RT and the surgery again two weeks later as 29888 78 RT; does the second surgery start a new global period or is it just a continuation of the initial global?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[lisigirl]

The global period stays with the original surgery. Below is how it works with the return to OR modifiers.

Modifier
-78 - global period stays with original case
-58 - global period resets with this case
-79 - creates simultaneous global periods, 1 for each case


Lisi, CPC

 

[doodiebuggy]

Thanks for your response lisi - that was kind of what we were thinking here too so it's good to get some backup support.