# Modifier 59 for 70553 and 70544



## Openmri1 (May 14, 2014)

Hello Everybody, I have a dilemma. We usually bill for a Brain MRI with and without contrast 70553 and for a Brain MRA w/o contrast 70544 on the same day of service. According to Medicare under NCCI edits, I can unbundle these services, however, I am not sure If I can use modifier 59? 25? or 51? I thought I could use modifier "59", however Noridian JE Part B aka (Medicare) does not even have modifier 59 listed! Does anyone knows if it is appropriate to use modifier 59 to unbundle those two services????


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## MarcusM (May 14, 2014)

http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/NationalCorrectCodInitEd/downloads/modifier59.pdf


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## Openmri1 (May 14, 2014)

*Thank you!!!*

Thank you Mark! they are done on separate times 30 minutes apart, however it still does not specify if it is ok for me to use for these type of procedures


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## polycoder (May 14, 2014)

We use 59 mod for Noridian


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## Openmri1 (May 14, 2014)

polycoder said:


> We use 59 mod for Noridian



Hi Polycoder, this is what I found in Noridian and modifier "59" is not listed

https://med.noridianmedicare.com/web/jeb/topics/modifiers


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## k030876 (May 16, 2014)

Openmri1 said:


> Hello Everybody, I have a dilemma. We usually bill for a Brain MRI with and without contrast 70553 and for a Brain MRA w/o contrast 70544 on the same day of service. According to Medicare under NCCI edits, I can unbundle these services, however, I am not sure If I can use modifier 59? 25? or 51? I thought I could use modifier "59", however Noridian JE Part B aka (Medicare) does not even have modifier 59 listed! Does anyone knows if it is appropriate to use modifier 59 to unbundle those two services????




We use 70544-59 anytime we have to bill this combination.
KPhares
Lead Coder
Xray Associates of NM


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## Openmri1 (Mar 11, 2015)

thank you!


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