Practice Management Alert

Question: A patient came in for the biopsy report after a 90-day global procedure. The doctor talked to the patient about results and different types of treatment for 55 minutes. How can I capture payment for this visit?

Virginia Subscriber

Answer: Since you are within the surgical global, you should report the appropriate office visit code, such as 99213 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient, which requires at least 2 of these 3 key components: an expanded problem focused history; an expanded problem focused examination; medical decision making of low complexity ...). This visit is not a postoperative follow up examination related to the previous surgical procedure so you can report the E/M service.

Caveat: You need to append modifier 24 (Unrelated evaluation and management service by the same physician during a postoperative period) to your E/M code.