Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: The doctor controlled a patient's nasal hemorrhage (30901) and removed a benign lesion from patient's temple (17110) during the same encounter. Should I report modifier 51 or 59?New Hampshire SubscriberAnswer: Coding rules direct you to append modifier 51 (Multiple procedures) only when the physician completes multiple procedures during the same encounter, and to append modifier 59 (Distinct procedural service) only when the two procedures you want to submit are not normally submitted together but are appropriate under the circumstances. Modifier 59 is often used with code pairs that have an active bundling edit through the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI). Current CCI edits do not bundle codes 30901 (Control nasal hemorrhage, anterior, simple [limited cautery and/or packing] any method) and 17110 (Destruction [e.g., laser surgery, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, chemosurgery, surgical curettement], of benign lesions other than skin tags or cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions; up to 14 lesions).You'll probably find different opinions [...]