# 44050 but laparoscopic



## bdorin (Jun 1, 2017)

Hello! I'm new to bariatric coding and have a surgeon who did basically a 44050 but laparoscopic and not open. We cannot find a code for this. My surgeon thinks we should bill 44050 and 44238. Can anyone tell us what the proper way to bill is?

thanks so much for any help!!


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## CodingKing (Jun 1, 2017)

I don't know much about Gastro procedures but in general open code cannot be used at all for a laproscopic procedure. What was actually done? 44050 is for three different procedures so there's no way to link directly to an approproate code. For instance: 

45321 -Proctosigmoidoscopy, rigid; with decompression of volvulus

If its Laproscopic reduction of Internal Hernia its unlisted code 44238 which would describe the whole procedure.


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