# Coding for Hearing tests



## TiffanyK (Jun 7, 2016)

When your coding for a LT ear hearing test with air only (92552) and a RT ear hearing test with air and bone (92553) same day, how do you bill these out? I would like to know how other coders are coding for these tests. Our Audiologist have different ideas about coding these. Also, if you bill for air only 92552 and 92556 would you bill the comprehensive 92557 with modifier 52?


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## kwitts81 (Sep 27, 2016)

*I am interested in the answer as well*

I am constantly coming across notes that look similar to this: Otoscopy revealed clear canals and visible tympanic membranes bilaterally. 

Pure tone audiometric testing revealed normal hearing thru 1500 Hz then sloping to a severe sensorineural hearing loss in the left ear and a mild sloping to profound mixed hearing loss in the right ear.

Word recognition at 70 dBHL was 100% for the right ear and at 55 dBHL was 92% for the left ear. 

..When you see this what would you code: 92552;92556-52 or since there isn't a code for just recognition would you code it at all  out or do you know of another.  I am also at a loss to know if bone was tested or not, since the MDs never state as such. yet it is most cost effective to the patient at our place to just bill the 92557 vs separate a pure tone and a 92556- with a 52. Yet on a current note the MD billed a 92553 and a 92556-52 and there is a cci edit so should i just bill a 92557 with a 52 but that substantially lower the cost and I dont want to not pay th MD for work done. 
This is all probably written very confusing but im confused lol.
I suppose with the above note how would I accurately code it?


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## thomas7331 (Sep 29, 2016)

I would not code a hearing test based on the documentation you've given as an example.  This documentation appears to me to be the provider's summary of the key points of the results of the hearing test, not documentation of the test itself.  The hearing test should have its own record with an output of all of the results (they're usually displayed in a graph formats) which would show you everything that was done in the test and I would select the appropriate code from this.


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