You Be the Coder:
Use Unlisted Procedure for Vaginoplasty Repair
Published on Thu Feb 05, 2009
Question: Our ob-gyn created a neo-vagina for agenesis for a patient. He modifies it six days later. The ob-gyn wanted to bill 57410 (Female pelvic examination under anesthesia), but his work indicates more than that. The original code was 57292 (Construction of artificial vagina; with graft). Should I report the succeeding procedure as 57291 (Construction of artificial vagina; without graft)? Should I use modifier 58 or 76? The findings indicate: "Patient was six days postoperative following a McIndoe split-thickness skin graft vaginoplasty with the skin harvested from the right upper thigh. The surgeon placed a suprapubic catheter and when he examined the vulva, it revealed significant labial edema and swelling. There were three retention sutures that held the vaginal mold in place. The surgeon placed the sutures to approximate the labia majora. After their release, the surgeon found that the vaginal mold was significantly displaced from the vaginal canal and [...]