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Orthopedic Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Carefully Report 29874 with 29880

Published on Wed Feb 15, 2012

Question: We bill for an orthopedic surgeon who frequently codes 29880, G0289, 29874, and 29875. Can we report 29874 with 29880?Alabama SubscriberAnswer: For Medicare and commercial payers who have adopted G0289 (Arthroscopy, knee, surgical, for removal of loose body, foreign body, debridement/shaving of articular cartilage [chondroplasty] at the time of other surgical knee arthroscopy in a different compartment of the same knee), you cannot code 29874 (Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; for removal of loose body or foreign body [e.g., osteochondritis dissecans fragmentation, chondral fragmentation]) since it's bundled within the codes 29880 (Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; with meniscectomy [medial AND lateral, including any meniscal shaving] including debridement/shaving of articular cartilage [chondroplasty], same or separate compartment[s], when performed) and 29875 (Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; synovectomy, limited [eg, plica or shelf resection] [separate procedure]). You cannot report either code if the loose body removal or limited synovectomy was performed in the medial or lateral compartments as [...]
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