# Help on Shoulder Arthroscopy



## amartinez1 (Sep 15, 2010)

Can anyone please help and lead me the righ direction?

I have read several article that say what work is done in the shoulder can be coded and billed, but as I read the NCCI edits it states that most shoulder procedures can only be billed together if a modifier is appended. I have a physician that performed the following shoulder surgery:

Synovectomy with Debridment of Bicep tendon
Subacromional Decompression for acromial spur and distal clavicular spur
Open Bursectomy for inflamed bursa
I have coded this as 29820,29826-59,23929-59
I am not sure if the synovectomy and debridment can be coded with 2 different codes or when to use one or the other.

I have another surgery scenario where the physician did:
Synovectomy of glenohumeral joint with debridment of frayed labrum
Subacromional decompression to remove distal clavicle spur and acromion spur
Open bursectomy for inflamed bursa
Open side to side rotator cuff repair due to full thickness longitudinal tear on anterior edge of suprispinatus
I have coded this as 23412,29826-59,29820-59,23929-59

One last question when a Slap Repair is done can it be coded with Synovectomy or any other shoulder arthroscopy codes listed above?


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## Bella Cullen (Sep 17, 2010)

amartinez1 said:


> Can anyone please help and lead me the righ direction?
> 
> I have read several article that say what work is done in the shoulder can be coded and billed, but as I read the NCCI edits it states that most shoulder procedures can only be billed together if a modifier is appended. I have a physician that performed the following shoulder surgery:
> 
> ...




Synovectomy with Debridment of Bicep tendon-29822-59 only. Synovectomy is inclusive. 
Subacromional Decompression for acromial spur and distal clavicular spur-29826
Open Bursectomy for inflamed bursa-23929 No modifier. I don't put modifiers on unlisted codes.

Synovectomy of glenohumeral joint with debridment of frayed labrum- 29823, this is for extensive debridement (for glenohumeral and labrum) which includes synovectomy. 
Open bursectomy for inflamed bursa-23929
Open side to side rotator cuff repair due to full thickness longitudinal tear on anterior edge of suprispinatus-23412

Slap repair- 29807 can be billed with other shoulder procedures but not synovectomy.


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