Reader Questions:
Find a World of Difference Between XXX and 000 Globals
Published on Mon Apr 26, 2010
Question: What's the difference between an "XXX" global period and a "000" global period? Indiana SubscriberAnswer: Although both XXX and 000 global periods appear free of global bundling issues, you should know that there is a distinct difference between the two.The classification XXX (Global surgical rules do not apply) means that the service is truly free of global surgical bundling issues, and you can separately report services that the ophthalmologist performs on the same date as the surgical procedure (such as E/M services).The 000 indicator applies to the date of the procedure only. Medicare will therefore bundle all surgical services that the ophthalmologist performs on the surgery date into codes with this indicator.Example 1: Corneal smear (65430) includes a 000 global period. This means that if the ophthalmologist performs an E/M service on the same date as the smear, Medicare will bundle the E/M into payment for 65430 --unless, of [...]