Question: How does the concept of the "surgical global period" apply to ASC billing?
Kentucky Subscriber
Answer: Every procedure performed in the ASC has a "same day" global period.
Therefore, for instance, if a patient experiences postoperative bleeding and the physician must return the patient to the ASC for control of bleeding on the same day, you would report the appropriate control of bleeding code with modifier 78 (Unplanned return to the operating/procedure room by the same physician following initial procedure for a related procedure during the postoperative period) appended because the procedure occurred within the "same day" global period for the ASC.
If, however, the physician returned the patient to the ASC the day after the initial surgery, you would report the appropriate control of bleeding code with no modifier attached. For the ASC’s purposes, the initial surgery’s global period has expired, even though the surgery includes a 90-day global period for physician services.
