Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

If excessive fat is making it hard to get to the foot's structures, you may have a case for reporting increased procedural services.If you overuse modifier 22 (Increased procedural services) your podiatry practice may wind up facing scrutiny -- or worse -- from your payers or even the Office of Inspector General (OIG). But if you avoid the modifier entirely, you're likely missing out on reimbursement your podiatrist deserves.How it works: When a procedure requires significant additional time or effort that falls outside the range of services described by a particular CPT code -- and no other CPT code better describes the work involved in the procedure -- you should look to modifier 22. Modifier 22 represents those extenuating circumstances that don't merit the use of an additional or alternative CPT code but instead raise the reimbursement for a given procedure.Take a look at these three myths -- and the [...]