# Bilateral xray



## nc_coder (Mar 24, 2011)

We did a bilateral hand xray.  The description of the code does not say anything about bilateral.  Does anyone know if it is ok to file a modifier 50 with 73120?


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## dballard2004 (Mar 25, 2011)

I will wager an *opinion* here.  

I think this will be payer specific.  Medicare will accept modifier 50 for bilateral x-rays, but it can vary with commercial payers.  You may need to add LT and RT instead.  

Unless you have specific guidance from the payer here, I would lean towards the conservative side and bill LT and RT just to be safe.  So, you would report:

73120 LT
73120 RT

Hope this helps and again this is my *opinion*.


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