# order of modifiers



## hannabanana (Feb 13, 2009)

I am fairly new to anesthesia coding and want to make sure that I am listing the modifiers in the correct order...  Would this be the correct order: P3, QK, QS? I read somewhere that the physical status modifiers should go first, but then was told differently...

Hannah Rowland, CPC


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## jdrueppel (Feb 13, 2009)

The general rule is payment modifiers before informational modifiers.  In the example you gave I would sequence the modifiers QK P3 QS for MOST carriers.  Realizing the both the QX and P3 are modifiers that affect payment the payer needs to know the concurrency level (QK) to determine % of payment on the case & the P3 physical status modifier.
Of course, there can be exceptions based on payer guidelines.... for example, our Medicare carrier instructs us to use the QS modifier only in the 2nd position so if this is a Medicare patient I would sequence them as QK QS P3.

Julie, CPC


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