Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Question: What’s the CPT^® code for a submucosal reduction of the middle turbinate?

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: There’s no existing code in the CPT^® manual to report for a reduction of the middle turbinate. Instead, you’ll have to code the procedure using the unlisted code 30999 (Unlisted procedure, nose). However, you’ve got a few more steps in the coding and submission process in order to give yourself the best chance of appropriate reimbursement.

When you submit for a procedure using an unlisted code, you’ve got to know that it’s in your best interest to include alongside the unlisted code an existing code that most closely resembles the physician’s work. You’ll use this code as a comparison code so that the payer has a reference for reimbursement purposes.

Depending on the means of reduction, you’ll report one of the following two codes as a comparison code to 30999:

• 30140 (Submucous resection inferior turbinate, partial or complete, any method)
• 30802 (Ablation, soft tissue of inferior turbinates, unilateral or bilateral, any method (eg, electrocautery, radiofrequency ablation, or tissue volume reduction); intramural (ie, submucosal)).

If the operative report documents that the surgeon performed a submucosal resection of the middle turbinate, then you’ll report 30140 as the comparison code. If the operative report instead includes documentation of a middle turbinate reduction using a coblation/ablation technique, then you’ll report 30802 as the comparison code. 

Keep in mind that the operative report for a middle turbinate (or inferior turbinate) resection may include the use of an ablation tool, such as a coblator, to incise and resect the submucosal soft tissue and bone. On the other hand, a submucosal turbinate reduction procedure will stop short of resection, instead resorting to reducing the turbinate submucosally typically through the use of a coblator or similar cauterization tool.