Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

Question: Our physician recently started using a femtosecond laser during keratoplasty. Which code should we report for the femtosecond laser?

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Answer: The femtosecond laser can help the surgeon more accurately perform keratoplasty to make corneal incisions, which allows better precision and faster healing during these procedures, according to the Aug. 2012 edition of CPT^® Assistant.

To report these services, you'll submit +0290T: Corneal incisions in the recipient cornea created using a laser, in preparation for penetrating or lamellar keratoplasty (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure)

This code covers the incisions made by a laser, such as the IntraLase FS Laser, into the donor cornea and the recipient site, during a keratoplasty (corneal transplant). By creating custom, unique, matching edges in the donor cornea and recipient site, Intra-Lase Enabled Keratoplasty (IEK) may provide a higher accuracy of fitting and a stronger graft, reducing healing time and improving visual recovery.

You would report 0290T in conjunction with the code for the primary corneal procedure, as follows:

• 65710: Keratoplasty (corneal transplant); anterior lamellar
• 65730: ...  penetrating (except in aphakia or pseudophakia)
• 65750: ... penetrating (in aphakia)
• 65755: ... penetrating (in pseudoaphakia)