Primary Care Coding Alert

Experts reveal the diagnoses and modifiers insurers want on cerumen removal, E/M service claims

Payers may seem notoriously difficult when you-re trying to obtain E/M service payment with impacted cerumen removal--but the ICD-9 codes and modifier you use can make the difference between denial and deserved dollars.

-When a physician performs removal of impacted cerumen, may I also report an E/M service?- asks Phyllis Matarese, billing manager at Winthrop University Hospital in Bethpage, N.Y. -Or should I bill only one or the other, depending on what the physician did?-

Although circumstances and documentation may justify reporting both the service and the procedure, -insurers rarely pay both,- says Sharon Newman, CPC, coding education and documentation coordinator at Children's Specialty Group in Norfolk, Va.

Try these strategies, which can help you recoup payment for performed and documented 99212-99215 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient ...) services in addition to 69210 (Removal impacted cerumen [separate procedure], one or both ears).

Tip 1: Assign Separate Diagnoses -When looking at the cerumen removal procedure, we must look at what brought the patient to the physician,- says Steven M. Verno, CMBSI, director of reimbursement for Emergency Medical Specialists in Hollywood, Fla. -The patient isn't coming in to say, -I-m here to have my cerumen removed.- -

Instead, the patient likely presents with complaints of difficulty hearing in one or both ears, possible pain associated with impacted cerumen, and possible complaints of a sore throat due to having the eustachian tube involved.

The work involved with examining the patient and determining the appropriate course of action merits two diagnoses: one for the sick visit and the other for impacted cerumen removal.

-Otherwise, the insurer will bundle the E/M service into 69210,- Newman says.

Key: The documentation must support both ICD-9 codes. -The only appropriate diagnosis to use with 69210 is 380.4 or impacted cerumen,- Newman says.

The other diagnosis to support the E/M code may represent ear pain (388.7x, Otalgia), otitis media (381-382), or another illness (such as 465.9, Acute upper respiratory infections of multiple or unspecified sites; unspecified site).

Example: A child complains of ear pain. Impacted cerumen blocks the eardrum, preventing the physician from examining the ear. The physician uses an otoscope and curette to remove the impaction. She then examines the ear and diagnoses the patient with acute purulent otitis media.

In this case, you have two diagnoses--382.00 (Acute suppurative otitis media without spontaneous rupture of ear drum) and 380.4 (Impacted cerumen). You should use the otitis media diagnosis (382.00) for the E/M service, and impacted cerumen (380.4) for the procedure. The different ICD-9 codes help show the insurer that the physician performed a separate E/M service from the cerumen impaction removal. Tip [...]