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Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Modifier Basics:

Strategies Help You Distinguish Between Modifiers 58 And 78

Published on Fri Mar 09, 2012

Turn to condition, complication to make a choice.When reporting neurosurgical procedures, you will commonly come across situations wherein your surgeon did a postoperative management. You will be faced with a challenge to determine if the management in the postoperative period was planned and staged or unplanned. Read on to learn how to make the correct code choice.You may notice similar definitions in descriptors for the following modifiers:58 -- Staged or related procedure or service by the same provider during the postoperative period 78 -- Return to the operating room for a related procedure during the postoperative period. Note that these descriptors share the words "related procedure" and "during the postoperative period:" These similarities can pose challenges in code selection. Follow the tips below to pick the right modifier, each time you need to report one.Tip 1: Reserve 58 for 'Same Condition'You should only use modifier 58 when the follow up procedure during [...]
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