Radiology Coding Alert

The use of modifier -50 (Bilateral procedure) was not clearly explained in the February 2002 story Use the Most Common Radiology Modifiers with Ease. Two approaches may be used to prevent the erroneous impression that the repeated codes are duplicates and to ethically optimize payments for bilateral services:

The same procedure code should be reported on two lines of the claim form, with modifier -50 appended to the second appearance; or the procedure code should appear on only one line with the -50 modifier, but a "2" should be recorded in the units field.