General Surgery Coding Alert

General Surgery Coding:

Drain the Confusion From This Pleural Drainage Procedure

Question: Our surgeon wrote an op note in which they drained pleural fluid and performed a needle pleural biopsy during the same operative session. Are we able to code the drainage service as 32554, and add a biopsy code as well? Minnesota Subscriber Answer: It’s difficult to know how to code the drainage without more details from the surgeon’s note. If the [...]
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