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Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Report HDR per Treatment

Published on Mon Aug 10, 2009

Question: Should we code HDR and its components once or twice each day if we perform treatment on a patient twice in one day? Wisconsin Subscriber Answer: You should be able to report the code twice. Support: "The HDR code (7778x) is employed for each HDR application (or fraction of treatment, whether multiple fractions daily, weekly or monthly) ... The remote afterloading CPT codes are used each time a treatment is given (i.e., each time the equipment is used to load radioactive material into the patient and provide a therapeutic dose of radiation)," according to an article from WPS Medicare (www.wpsmedicare.com/part_b/policy/rad036_billing.pdf). Although this article still refers to the 2008 codes 77781-77784 instead of 2009 codes 77785-77787 (Remote afterloading high dose rate radionuclide brachytherapy ...), the minor change in descriptor wording shouldn't affect your ability to report the code more than once per day. A September 2005 CPT Assistant article [...]
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