tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2018 Issue 4

Reader Question: Focus on Details for Lap-Band Adjustment

Question: During an office visit, a surgeon in our practice performed a lap band adjustment by saline injection two weeks following surgery to "tighten" the band. Should we bill this as 43771? SuperCoder Subscriber Answer: No, you should not report 43771 (Laparoscopy, surgical, gastric restrictive procedure; revision of adjustable gastric restrictive device component only) for saline injection or aspiration that the surgeon performs to adjust the lap band. Code 43771 does not describe the in-office lap-band adjustment that is a normal, ongoing part of managing bariatric surgery to optimize weight loss. Instead, 43771 describes a surgical laparoscopic procedure to...

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