tci Outpatient Facility Coding Alert - 2018 Issue 1

Reader Question: 38571 or 38572? Find out

Question: Which group of lymph nodes constitutes a "total pelvic lymphadenectomy" with reference to codes 38571 and 38572? For instance, if the surgeon doesn't remove all the lymph nodes, but he does more than a biopsy, should I report unlisted code 38579? North Dakota Subscriber Answer: The bilateral external iliac, internal iliac (hypogastric), and obturator nodes are all part of a pelvic lymphadenectomy. Here are the two CPT®  codes you mention with full descriptors: 38571 (Laparoscopy, surgical; with bilateral total pelvic lymphadenectomy) 38572 (Laparoscopy, surgical; with bilateral total pelvic lymphadenectomy and peri-aortic lymph node sampling (biopsy) single or...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci Outpatient Facility Coding Alert.


TCI's Outpatient Facility Coding Alert helps your facility stay profitable by covering issues that are important to you — everything from billing strategies and appropriate payment indicators to coding tips and tricks, analysis of industry trends, and so much more. Subscribe today and let our experts make your job easier.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 650 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 2012 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles

This feature is currently unavailable for online purchase. For more information, please call 801-770-4203 or Contact Us.

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

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