Urology Coding Alert

Question: My urologist placed a 16-French foley catheter without any issues. The patient’s bladder was emptied. My urologist instilled gemcitabine for one hour; the catheter was plugged. After one hour, the gemcitabine was emptied out, and docetaxel was instilled via the catheter. The patient will urinate out the docetaxel after one hour. The patient will follow up next month for the same regimen. Can I bill twice for the instillation of the drugs with 51720?

AAPC Forum Subscriber

Answer: Report 51720 (Bladder instillation of anticarcinogenic agent (including retention time)) only once. If you supplied the medications, bill for both using the appropriate J code. For the gemcitabine, report J9201 (Injection, gemcitabine hydrochloride, not otherwise specified, 200 mg). For the docetaxel, report J9171 (Injection, docetaxel, 1 mg). Check your urologist’s documentation for the amounts administered to ensure you bill the correct units.

This treatment is sometimes used by urologists for patients with recurrent non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) for whom intravesical Bacillus Calmette- Guerin (BCG) treatment has not worked and radical cystectomy is not advised or wanted.