Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
Why-And When-You Should Stop Writing Off Modified Maze Procedures
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When your surgeon performs the modified maze procedure at the same session as another surgery in 2007, you may have to write it off because existing codes 33254-33256 are only for stand-alone procedures.
But 2008 brings better options. In January, you-ll have three new add-on codes (33257-33259) for when your surgeon performs the modified-maze along with a primary procedure. The three new codes break down into limited, extensive without cardiopulmonary bypass and extensive with cardiopulmonary bypass.
More new cardiovascular surgery codes:
- When your doctor collects a blood specimen, you-ll have two new codes. CPT code 36591 covers collection from a completely implantable Venous Access Device (VAD), while 36592 covers collection from an established central or peripheral venous catheter, which is -not otherwise specified.-
- A cutting-edge aortic valve graft procedure, known as the Tirone David Procedure or the Yacoub Procedure, gets its own code (33864). This involves an ascending aorta graft with a cardiopulmonary bypass for valve suspension. It also includes coronary reconstruction and -valve-sparing aortic annulus remodeling.-
Because the aortic valve is such a complex structure, no valve prosthesis can duplicate its function. So surgeons have developed procedures that either spare the aortic valve or replace it with -very similar autologous tissue,- according to an Aug. 2006 article in the German journal Herz. (-Reconstructive surgery of the aortic valve: the Ross, David and Yacoub Procedures.-)
- When your physician places a wireless physiologic sensor in the aneurismal sac during an endovascular repair, you-ll have a new code (34806) to report this procedure. It includes radiological supervision and interpretation, instrument calibration, and collection of pressure data. There's also a new code for a bypass graft with vein, in the brachial-ulnar or brachial-radial region (35523).
- You can report declotting by a thrombolytic agent, or implanted vascular access device or catheter, using new code 36593.
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