Use of modifiers 58 or 78 on anesthesia encounters

[latonya78]

Is it appropriate to use modifier 58 on anesthesia encounters when the surgeon plans to return to the OR for a stage procedure. I would appreciate an authoritative source to review.

Thanks,

Latonya

 

[thomas7331]

Global surgery modifiers are not appropriate for anesthesia - per the CPT definition of modifier 58 is "Staged or related procedure or service by the same physician during the post-operative period", so it would only be appropriate for use by the surgeon doing the procedure if they are within the global period of a surgery that they themselves performed. It is not for use on anesthesia CPT codes, or by the anesthesiologist since that is a different provider of a different specialty.

Also, the global surgery rules indicate that "services of other physicians related to the surgery" are excluded from the global surgery package, so by extension there would be no reason to append a modifier to an anesthesia service.

This information is in the CMS global surgery booklet, which you can find here:

https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Ed...oducts/downloads/GloballSurgery-ICN907166.pdf

 

[latonya78]

Thanks @thomas7331. the information you have provided is helpful.