tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2011 Issue 12

Reader Question: 49321: Stick to Anatomic Site for Code Selection

Question: Can we use 49321 for a laparoscopic liver biopsy to avoid using an "unlisted" code? Tennessee SubscriberAnswer: No, you should not report a laparoscopic liver biopsy using 49321 (Laparoscopy, surgical; with biopsy [single or multiple]). Instead, you should report the service using 47379 (Unlisted laparoscopic procedure, liver). Here's why: 49321 is in the CPT subsection for "Abdomen, peritoneum, and omentum" (49000-49999). Because CPT provides specific codes in the "Liver" subsection (47000-47399), you should use one of those codes for a liver procedure. Because CPT® doesn't provide a specific laparoscopic liver biopsy code, you need to choose the unlisted...

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