Optometry Coding & Billing Alert

Then read on to see how your visual field coding and billing expertise stacks up.

Visual field testing (CPT® codes 92081-92083, Visual field examination…) is a big component of many optometric practices, used on patients from glaucoma suspects to blepharoplasty candidates. Whether you’re a VF coding newbie or a seasoned expert, the answers to these questions can help you get all of your deserved reimbursement.

Question 1: True or false: All of the visual fields codes are inherently unilateral. If the optometrist performs visual fields on both eyes, he can bill the code twice.

Question 2: Your practice performs a visual field test ordered by a doctor outside the practice. The patient is not being seen by any doctor in the practice, and the visual field is being sent back to the ordering doctor for interpretation. How should you code for that?

Question 3: An optometrist plots three isopters on the Goldmann perimeter. You would code this:

A. 92081
B. 92082
C. 92083
D. None of the above

Question 4: A patient presents with high intraocular pressure, a sign of glaucoma, and the optometrist decides to perform a visual field (VF) examination. The results of the visual field were normal, and the doctor ruled out the possibility of glaucoma. Which diagnosis code should you link to the VF procedure?

A. 365.01
B. 365.10
C. 365.11
D. None of the above

Question 5: The optometrist performs visual fields for a patient who presents with high intraocular pressure, open angle, and the VFs confirm the presence of small scotomas in the areas of the VF related to glaucoma. Which diagnosis code should you link to the VF procedure?

A. 365.01
B. 365.10
C. 365.11
D. None of the above

Question 6: To determine the extent to which a blepharoplasty candidate’s droopy eyelids interfered with her vision, the optometrist performs two bilateral visual field tests on the same day (Humphrey full-field 120 point). He performs the first field test normally, and the second after taping the patient’s eyelids. The diagnosis is dermatochalasis (374.87). How should you code this procedure?