Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: One of our doctors has started performing the corneal limbal relaxing procedure for elective purposes. What CPT code should we use to report this procedure?New Hampshire SubscriberAnswer: You should report elective corneal limbal relaxation procedures using 66999-GY (Unlisted procedure, anterior segment of eye; Item or service statutorily excluded, does not meet the definition of any Medicare benefit or, for non- Medicare insurers, is not a contract benefit).Caution: You may think 65772 (Corneal relaxing incision for correction of surgically induced astigmatism) sounds like an appropriate code to use for this procedure. But this code only applies to surgically induced astigmatism. If the astigmatism is not surgically induced, the procedure is generally a noncovered elective refractive surgery. So if the ophthalmologist wants to correct pre-existing astigmatism at the same time he removes cataracts by doing the corneal limbal relaxation along with the cataract surgery, for example, you should inform the patient [...]