tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2018 Issue 8

Reader Question: Grasp This: Abdominal Codes Include Enterolysis

Question: Sometimes our surgeon performs a partial colectomy, either open or laparoscopic, that entails take down of adhesions. Can we separately report the adhesions by using 44005 or 44180 to get paid for the additional work? Arkansas Subscriber Answer: No, you should not separately bill the take down of adhesions in addition to a code for partial colectomy. The code for an open partial colectomy is 44140 (Colectomy, partial; with anastomosis), and for a laparoscopic procedure, the code is 44204 (Laparoscopy, surgical; colectomy, partial, with anastomosis). You are correct that CPT® provides the following codes for freeing intestinal adhesions:...

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.