Modifier 59 on 95900 or 95903?

[KellRey]

Hi everyone,

I apologize if someone already asked this (I did search but I can't find anything on it), but I was hoping to get a definite answer on this. If you are billing 95900 and 95903 on the same claim, and there is a nerve that did not get the F-wave testing so it's not included in the 95903 units, which code are you supposed to put the modifier 59 on? We've been putting it on the 95900 because it's a lower code and we have been getting paid on it, but in Carol Buck's 2010 Step-By-Step Coding book it says that it should go on the 95903. Does anyone know which is actually correct? Thanks!

[krea00]

were these done on the same nerve? The cci edits show that 95900 is a component of 95903 and 95903 is the primary code so your mod would go on the 95900. But if they were done on different nerves then you would need to only use the RT or LT mods to designate.
hope this helps

[KellRey]

No, it would be two different nerves. For example if F-wave testing was done on the Tibial but not on the Ulnar, we would bill a 95903 for the Tibial and a 95900 for the Ulnar, but I am receiving conflicting info as to which code actually gets the modifier.