tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 1999 Issue 6

Reader Question: Initial and Recurrent Hernia Repair

Question: What is the correct coding of a bilateral hernia repair when the left side is an initial repair and the right is a second or recurrent repair? I believe the correct coding would be 49520-RT (repair recurrent inguinal hernia, any age; reducible; right side) and 49505-LT-51 (repair initial inguinal hernia, age 5 years or over; reducible; left side; multiple procedures). The respective diagnoses would be 550.91(inguinal hernia, without mention of obstruction or gangrene; unilateral or unspecified, recurrent) and 550.90 (inguinal hernia, without mention of obstruction or gangrene; unilateral or unspecified [not specified as recurrent]).Thomas Antoni...

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


Leverage vital, to-the-point monthly guidance to boost your reporting accuracy and your coding know-how. We make it convenient for your team to stay informed, compliant, and profitable with a subscription to TCI’s General Surgery Coding Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1999 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • tci General Surgery Coding Alert +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

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