Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Missing this advice could cut $95 from your reimbursement for excisions. When your ophthalmologist removes lesions from a patient's eyelids, check if the removal involves more than the eyelid's skin -- the added complexity puts you in a different section and boosts your pay. Dig into your ophthalmologist's procedure documentation to determine which code set you should report. Turn to 67840 for More-Than-Skin Removal To report 67840 (Excision of lesion of eyelid [except chalazion] without closure or with simple direct closure), make sure the surgery involves more than the eyelid's skin. Key words: The procedure might involve lid margin, tarsus, and/or palpebral conjunctiva. The ophthalmologist should indicate these terms in the chart notes when documenting the removal of the lesion. Example: Your ophthalmologist removes a single lesion from a patient's upper-left eyelid. The excision measures 0.8 cm in diameter and includes the lid margin, which the physician submits for pathologic examination. [...]