Urology Coding Alert

Question: My urologist performed a procedure on the 23rd of the month. On the 24th he reviewed the patient, went over everything, and discharged the patient. Am I correct that I can charge for the hospital discharge (such as 99238) for a patient by the same doctor, with the same diagnosis code in the global period of the procedure?

Alaska Subscriber

Unfortunately, you may be incorrect. If you are in a global period of a procedure or if the discharge is on the same day as the surgery, you cannot separately report the discharge codes: 99238-99239 (Hospital discharge day management ...). In these cases the discharge is included in the procedure coding and global period.

Exception: With certain urological procedures that have a zero-day global -- such as ureteroscopic and transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURB) procedures -- if the patient is admitted to the hospital after surgery and then discharged the next day or days later, you can then bill for the discharge services. Remember to also bill for hospital days if a patient is admitted to the hospital after a zero-day global procedure and stays a few days.