Hi...I am new to cardiothoracic coding and I am wanting to know if you can bill for the following scenario.
Patient is in a 90 day global for a heart procedure....CABG, valve replacement, ect. Patient is discharged from hospital and then comes into clinic for follow up visit and then diagnosed with a pleural effusion. A thoracentesis is performed in the office. Clinic is currently billing for the surgical tray which always denies as inclusive. They were told to do this by a coding workshop. I reviewed the article the clinic was referencing and it specified that the surgical tray was no longer billable and that a thoracentesis was also included in the gloabl period and should not be billed. However, I cannot find any supporting information to confirm this. Since I am new to cardiothoracic I did bill the 32421during a global and received payment from both Medicare and UHC. I have spoke to inpatient facility coders and they state that you can bill for a 32421 since facilities are not under global restrictions. So....should my physicians be billing for a thoracentesis during a global period when performed during a follow-up office visit? Opinions......thanks!
Patient is in a 90 day global for a heart procedure....CABG, valve replacement, ect. Patient is discharged from hospital and then comes into clinic for follow up visit and then diagnosed with a pleural effusion. A thoracentesis is performed in the office. Clinic is currently billing for the surgical tray which always denies as inclusive. They were told to do this by a coding workshop. I reviewed the article the clinic was referencing and it specified that the surgical tray was no longer billable and that a thoracentesis was also included in the gloabl period and should not be billed. However, I cannot find any supporting information to confirm this. Since I am new to cardiothoracic I did bill the 32421during a global and received payment from both Medicare and UHC. I have spoke to inpatient facility coders and they state that you can bill for a 32421 since facilities are not under global restrictions. So....should my physicians be billing for a thoracentesis during a global period when performed during a follow-up office visit? Opinions......thanks!