I respectfully stand by my position that the global period concept applies only to the original surgeon and others in his/her practice, and this is backed up by the CMS statement I quoted above.
To address your specific statements:
1)
"That rule is in response to a different issue." The rule I quoted above clearly states that it applies to "all necessary services."
2)
"Anyone who prior to 2011 tried to bill for sutures put in at the ER can tell you that global applies to the surgery not the surgeon specifically": It is not clear to me what the relevance is of situations prior to 2011.
3)
"If anyone from another group could do the follow up and bill an office visit don't you think all surgeons would refer the follow up to the PCP": It would be unethical for a surgeon not to follow up on his own surgery unless circumstances make it impossible.
4)
"Research the 55 modifier": Modifier 55 only applies to surgical services, so it is not relevant to suture removal, which is not a surgical service (as it has no surgical code).
I am not meaning to turn this into an argument, and certain mean no offense, but I know we all come to this forum to try to get correct answers to coding questions. If I am mistaken on this issue and you can show me a source, I would be glad to say "I was wrong."
By the way, I found another source at
http://www.aafp.org/fpm/1999/0700/p12.html: Q: What code should I use for in-office removal of sutures placed by another physician (for example, following treatment in the emergency department)? A: There is no specific CPT code for this service. Use an office-visit code, such as 99211.
This was followed up at
http://www.aafp.org/fpm/1999/1100/p14.html : Q: In the July/August 1999 issue, you recommended using an office visit code for in-office removal of sutures placed by another physician. Even if another doctor provided the original service, wouldn't suture removal be considered a part of the global surgical service and as such not be reimbursable to the physician removing the sutures since he would have no diagnosis to make this a separate, identifiable E/M service?
A: Suture removal is generally included in the global surgical package if the removal is done by the physician who performed the surgery. However, the global surgical package excludes services of other physicians and would therefore exclude suture removal in this case. Incidentally, there is a diagnosis code that covers suture removal: V58.3, ?Attention to surgical dressings and sutures,? includes change of dressings and removal of sutures.
Now, whether you are going to get paid for that diagnosis is another question!