tci Part B Insider - 2006 Issue 2

GENERAL SURGERY: Settle On Modifier 78 For Subsequent Surgeries

Beware:  Don't charge separately for procedures in outpatient settings When your surgeons perform an initial surgery, there’s a good chance that they will have to perform a second surgery. Here’s why you should rely on modifier 78 to properly document an additional surgery necessitated by circumstances arising from the first. You should think of modifier 78 as the “complications” modifier, says Susan Allen, CPC, compliance coder with JSA Healthcare in St. Petersburg, FL. You can apply modifier 78 (Return to the operating room for a related procedure during the postoperative period) under the following circumstances: &bull...

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