tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2001 Issue 6

You Be the Coder: Exploration Without Hernia Repair

Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.Question: Our physician performed a hernia repair on one side and an exploration on the other, but found no hernia. Should we code a second hernia repair with modifier -52, or report an exploration code?New York SubscriberAnswer: If a separate incision was made to explore the second side, the procedure should be billed a second time with modifier -RT (right side) or -LT (left side) as appropriate, followed by modifier -52 (reduced services), says Kathleen Mueller, RN, CPC...

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