Radiology Coding Alert
Bilateral X-Rays
Question: My radiologist took a bilateral knee x-ray. Should I report CPT 73562 with modifier -50 and one unit and double the price? If not, how should I bill the x-ray? That said, some payers may require you to attach body-side modifiers (-LT, Left side; and -RT, Right side). In this case, you would report: Other insurers may require you to report the appropriate code once with a "2" in the units-of-service field on the claim form. For these payers, you would report:
Tennessee Subscriber
Answer: Typically, you shouldn't use modifier -50 (Bilateral procedure) for reporting bilateral radiology exams. Medicare doesn't subject 73562 (Radiologic examination, knee; three views) to bilateral procedure payment rules, which pay certain bilateral procedures at 150 percent. You should instead list the appropriate radiology code twice on the claim form. For instance, if your physician takes three views of each knee, you should report:
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