Case Study:
Breathe Easy When It Comes to Turning Nasal Notes Into a Flawless Claim
Published on Thu Nov 29, 2012
Give your sinus and turbinate coding skills a test. When approaching any claim, the trick is to know the lingo as well as bundling/unbundling rules. See if your turbinate coding is up to par by coding the following operative report: The otolaryngologist began surgery using bipolar forceps to cauterize the inferior and medial borders of the inferior turbinate. He then gently in-fractured the middle turbinate and using the backbiting forceps amputated the inferior one-third of the uncinate process. He identified the natural ostium of the maxillary sinus and connected it with an accessory ostium that was inferior to it. It was extended posteriorly into the fontanel of the middle turbinate. The bulla ethmoidalis was exonerated using the Weil-Blakesley forceps. A Merocel nasal tampon was trimmed to an arrowhead shape and placed in the anterior middle meatus to prevent lateralization of the middle turbinate. The otolaryngologist wants to charge for an: [...]
