tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2009 Issue 1

Reader Questions: Include Adhesive Band in Lysis of Adhesions

Question: The surgeon performed an exploratory laparotomy with division of adhesive band and lysis of adhesions. He cited a diagnosis of 560.81 (Intestinal or peritoneal adhesions with obstruction [postoperative] [postinfection]). How would I report this? Illinois SubscriberAnswer: The "adhesive band" is the specific adhesion causing the obstruction, and division of this adhesive band is an included part of an "open" lysis of adhesions as described by 44005 (Enterolysis [freeing of intestinal adhesion] [separate procedure]). Additionally, CMS and other payers bundle the exploratory laparotomy with the enterolysis (44005). Therefore, you would not separately bill for the exploratory laparotomy. Note...

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.