Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Be vigilant for series of events in the postoperative periodYou will need to read the operative note in depth to learn if the neurosurgeon does any evaluation after the surgical procedure. For a postoperative visit that is related to the original procedure, you would code 99024 (Postoperative follow-up visit, normally included in the surgical package, to indicate that an evaluation and management service was performed during a postoperative period for a reason(s) related to the original procedure). "Usually a provider can only charge for E&M services in a global period that are not related to the condition for which the surgery was performed. You report the E&M code with a modifier -24," advises Gwendolyn M. Flaherty, CPC, NeuroScience Associates, Idaho. You append modifier -24 (Unrelated evaluation and management service by the same physician during a postoperative period.....) for an evaluation done in the postoperative period. For evaluation after a procedure, [...]