tci Part B Insider - 2009 Issue 6
READER QUESTION: Get This Prior-to-Surgery Modifier Advice to Avoid Any Coding Snafus
Remember: You can't report modifier 57 if the decision for surgery was made long ago. Question: Our physician planned to perform a radical hysterectomy (58210). The patient's preoperative labs turned up showing that she had diabetes. Her blood sugar was so severely elevated that my physician admitted the patient to the hospital to get her sugar under control before he would do the surgery. The patient was admitted on Feb. 11 for the diabetes, and the surgery took place on Feb. 14. Can we charge the hospital admit and subsequent visits that occurred prior to the surgery date? If...
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