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Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Reader Question ~ Overlooking Modifiers RT/LT Could Be a Big Mistake

Published on Fri Sep 21, 2007

Question: One of our providers was about to perform an Essure procedure (58565) on a patient but could not finish it entirely. She ended up doing it on one side of the tube, and then she performed a tube ligation (58671) on the other side. How should we code these procedures?

California Subscriber Answer: You should be using the two different codes (58565, Hysteroscopy, surgical; with bilateral fallopian tube cannulation to induce occlusion by placement of permanent implants; and 58671, Laparoscopy, surgical; with occlusion of oviducts by device [e.g., band, clip, or Falope ring]). But you need to apply modifier RT (Right side) and LT (Left side) to the side where the ob-gyn performed the procedure. The answers for Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were provided by Melanie Witt, RN, CPC-OGS, MA, an ob-gyn coding expert based in Guadalupita, N.M.
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