tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2002 Issue 5

Reader Question: Modifier -26 and FNA Codes

Question: Why are our claims for fine needle aspiration (FNA) performed in the office being denied? Ohio SubscriberAnswer: FNA is reported using 10021 or 10022. These codes were introduced in CPT 2002 to replace 88170 and 88171. However, 10021 and 10022 retained the characteristics of the two earlier codes: This includes the fact that each could be divided into professional and technical components, despite the fact that the technical component only covered provision of supplies (i.e., slide and needle) for the service. Medicare issued a transmittal (AB-02-018) in February 2002 that ended this division. Modifiers -26 (Professional component)...

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.