Urology Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

50590 Cancels Ureteroscopy Coding For Same Stone

Published on Mon Jan 17, 2011

Question: If a patient undergoes a right ureteroscopy with an incomplete laser fragmentation of a ureteral stone and then during the same encounter is switched to an ESWL for complete stone fragmentation, am I able to unbundle these procedures and charge for both? Both procedures were on the right side.

Answer: As coding principles dictate, you should only bill for the procedure that accomplished the operation, in this case the complete stone fragmentation. Therefore, you should only bill for the extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). Report 50590 (Lithotripsy, extracorporeal shock wave) for complete fragmentation of the ureteral stone.

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