# delivery w/o physician attendence???



## bigredcag (Feb 16, 2010)

Hello All,
I have received differnt answers from other forums on this question, so i am going to try asking here. 
Can a physician bill the global 59400 if he/she was not in attendce/did not actually deliver the infant? (ie pt delivered at home, ambulance,car or nurse delivered etc) 
It is confusing since there are other codes that can be billed (ie antepartum/postpartum care)
I "think" they can only bill for ante partum & post partum codes and any other procedure codes. (ie laceration repair, or placental delivery) 
What do you think?? If anyone has documentation proof (please) either way it would help tremendously.  
Some answers I have received is to use modifier -52 on the global code and others said no just bill ante & postpatum.  without documentation I am at a lose.
thanks for all your assistance.
chris g


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## tjanz1418 (Feb 16, 2010)

ACOG states that for a patient that delivered at home you can either append a modifier 52 or you can bill the antepartum care, delivery of placenta (if performed), episiotomy repair if appropriate, and the postpartum care.  I have also read other places that you can add a mod 52 if the nurse delivers because it is not a billable service for the nurse.  A really great book that I have recently discovered is "Frequently Asked Questions in Obstetric and Gynecologic Coding" by ACOG.  This is where I got the first answer.  Hope this helps!


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