General Surgery Coding Alert

See if you need to hone your modifier coding skills with this quiz. Modifiers can make or break your claim. Leaving off a needed modifier or appending the wrong modifier can lead to denial after denial. So if your modifier knowledge isnt up to snuff, your practice could be missing out on major reimbursement. Find out if youre using modifiers to properly code the services your surgeons perform with these five quiz questions. Turn to page 63 for the answers. Question 1: Your surgeon performs a diagnostic endoscopy and, as a direct result of his findings, determines the need for an open surgical procedure. You know you can report the diagnostic endoscopy separately in this case. For Medicare, which modifier do you need to append to the open procedure code? A. 58 B. 59 C. 78 D. 79. Question 2: During an operative laparoscopic procedure, the surgeon determines that he [...]