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Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Ophthalmic Trauma Care:

Look to Special Services, E/M Codes for Emergency FB Removals, Laceration Repairs

Published on Fri Aug 20, 2010

 Is it worth your time to report emergency services separately? The answer may depend on your carrier. Treating ophthalmic emergencies in the office is difficult -- so your office should get more reimbursement, right? Unfortunately, that's not always the way Medicare sees it, but our expert advice will help you get fair reimbursement for the ophthalmologist's extra work. When a patient rushes in with a corneal laceration from glass stuck in his eye, you know that the ophthalmologist needs more time and skill than usual to deal with the traumatic eye injury. Yet Medicare has strict rules for coding ophthalmic emergencies in the office. Some of the most common traumatic eye injuries ophthalmologists might treat in the office are foreign body (FB) removals (65205-65222) and laceration repairs (65270-65286). The code to report depends on the location of the FB and the resulting repair, if any. For example, report 65205 (Removal of [...]
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