Neurosurgery Coding Alert

4 keys to unlocking pay: The primary procedure, flap removal, retrieval, and replacement. To recoup all you're due for your cranial bone graft claims, your surgeon will need to provide complete documentation for the underlying condition which necessitated the grafting and for each service performed to obtain and finally complete the grafting. Example: You may read that, for a patient with intracranial subdural hemorrhage and subfalcine herniation who underwent an emergent decompressive parietal craniectomy, your surgeon did a left parietal cranioplasty after retrieval of the cranial bone graft that was placed in a subcutaneous pocket in the abdomen. You should make sure you report all the steps for this service. Step 1: Report the primary procedure: You report the primary procedure that your surgeon does to address the diagnosed condition in the patient. In the example above, you would report code 61312 (Craniectomy or craniotomy for evacuation of hematoma, supratentorial; [...]