Neurosurgery Coding Alert

You lose payment if you ignore any additional procedures or techniques with craniotomy.

Craniotomy is a principle component in cranial procedures. Reporting cranial procedure is complex because your surgeon will often perform additional procedures with craniotomy. If you miss billing these additional procedures, you will invite underpayment. Attempt this quiz to assess your understanding of top five additional procedures in cranial surgery. 

Question 1: How do you report when you read that your neurosurgeon used the operating microscope to clip a small anterior communicating artery aneurysm with microdissection technique?

a) 61700

b) 61700 and +69990

c) 61700 and +69990x2

d) None of the above

Question 2: How do you report when your neurosurgeon performs a skull-based procedure to access an aneurysm, then performed a clip ligation of the aneurysm under a microscope for microdissection? 

a) 61583

b) 61601 

c) 69990 

d) All of the above

Question 3: How do you report when your neurosurgeon performed resection of a frontal lobe astrocytoma using both microdissection with an operating microscope and neuronavigation?

a) 61510, +69990

b) 61781, +69990

c) 61510, +61781, +69990

d) 61700, +61781

Question 4: How do you report when your surgeon does a right-sided occipital stealth guided craniotomy for an open biopsy of a brain lesion?

a) 61140

b) 61140, +61781

c) 61510

d) 61510, +61781

Question 5: How do you report when your surgeon does a bone flap craniotomy adopting an extradural approach in the middle cranial fossa on the left side to repair an encephalocele and then inserted a spinal drain?

a) 62120, 62272-51

b) 62272

c) 62120

d) None of the above. 

Editor's  note: Find correct answers in the next issue of Neurosurgery Coding Alert, Vol16n8.