General Surgery Coding Alert
Tube Conversion Calls for Endoscopy
Question: How can I report a PEG tube to J-tube conversion? Technical and coding advice for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided by Marcella Bucknam, CPC, CCS, CPC-H, CCS-P, HIM program coordinator at Clarkson College in Omaha, Neb.
Ohio Subscriber
Answer: In most cases, the appropriate code for a conversion from a percutaneous gastrostomy (PEG) tube to a jejunostomy tube (a J-tube) is 44373 (Small intestinal endoscopy ...; with conversion of percutaneous gastrostomy tube to percutaneous jejunostomy tube).
In conversions of this type, the PEG tube is already in place. A more slender tube is then passed through the PEG tube, into the stomach, and through the pyloric channel and duodenum into the jejunum.
If the physician must reposition the jejunostomy tube--either manually, surgically or endoscopically--you may report 43761 (Repositioning of the gastric feeding tube, any method, through the duodenum for enteric nutrition).
Less frequently, the physician may also place a J-tube through a percutaneous puncture in the abdomen and under endoscopic guidance instead of through a PEG tube. You may report this procedure using 44372 (Small intestinal endoscopy ...; with placement of percutaneous jejunostomy tube).
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Tube Conversion Calls for Endoscopy
Question: How can I report a PEG tube to J-tube conversion?
Ohio Subscriber
Answer: In most [...]
