tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2003 Issue 9

Coding Case Study: Amputation Following Bypass Is a 'Staged' Procedure

The Procedure: A 46-year-old male undergoes bypass graft (35661) for artherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCD). Several weeks later, the patient must have an above-the-knee amputation with gangrene. A different surgeon in the same practice performed the amputation.The Challenge: A California reader wants to know: "Is the amputation related or unrelated to the bypass? In other words, should I append modifier -78 or -79 to the second procedure code?" The Solution: In this case, the first surgeon probably planned to proceed with the amputation if the bypass graft did not work. Further, the amputation in this case is not...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci General Surgery Coding Alert.

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.