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Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Strabismus and Cataract Surgery

Published on Sat Sep 01, 2001

Test your coding knowledge.  Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.
Question: How should I code strabismus and cataract surgery done at the same session?

Arkansas Subscriber
 

Answer: A recent study has suggested that small angles of strabismus will often be fused after cataract surgery, so ophthalmologists may perform the cataract surgery first and the strabismus surgery after. If you do them both at the same session, first identify the strabismus surgery (67311-67318) and any add-ons (67320-67340). Then, see if any of the Medicare fee schedules are greater than the cataract code.
 
Code the procedures in the order of largest allowable Medicare fee first, and then the other procedures in descending allowables with modifier -51 (multiple procedures). Add-ons are codes meant to be used in addition to a base code. Muscle procedures constitute one of the rare instances of add-ons in CPT.
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