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Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Defeat Intracranial Aneurysm Surgery Denials by Pinpointing Location and Complexity

Published on Wed Jun 24, 2009

If the aneurysm meets one of these criteria, you can boost your simple surgery code to a complex one. You may know to refer to codes 61697-61703 when your neurosurgeon performs surgery on an intracranial aneurysm, but does your physician's documentation specify carotid circulation, vertebrobasilar circulation, or fixing the aneurysm via a neck approach? The answer matters because CPT has very definite guidelines that not only specify circulation and access but the difference between simple and complex aneurysms. It's up to you to know these subtle differences, or you'll run the risk of miscoding your claims -- a quick road to denials or lost revenue. Heed the following expert advice and choose the proper code for each claim every time. Pin Down Where the Aneurysm Occurred Start here: Before filing the claim, you'll need to check the operative notes to see where the aneurysm occurred, because you should code the surgery [...]
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