Pediatric Coding Alert

Use modifiers 59, 76 and 77, and 91 without jeopardizing your pay. When you consider reporting modifiers 59 (Distinct procedural service), 76 (Repeat procedure by same physician) and 77 (Repeat procedure by another physician), you should know if the pediatrician's procedures were similar to or exactly the same as other services performed on the same patient on the same day. Case in point: A pediatric practice submitted the following question to Pediatric Coding Alert: "Our physician treated a patient for a severe nosebleed. Later the same afternoon, that patient came back with another nosebleed, which a different physician treated. Which modifier should we append to show that we did the same procedure twice? Solution: Keep your repeat procedure modifiers in check. Here are some tips that will help you append the correct modifiers without sacrificing any payments. 1. Separate Practices Means No Modifier Is Necessary Using the nosebleed example above, keep [...]