Wiki 47001 - is it precluded for laparoscopic?

[bethanyhines77@gmail.com]

Does anyone have any information contraindicating the use of 47001 "Biopsy of liver, needle; when done for indicated purpose at time of other major procedure" for laparoscopic use when done with another laparoscopic procedure? The CPT tabular apparently used to classify 47001 as percutaneous, however now the code descriptor does not specify access. The code it is indented under (47000) specifies "percutaneous" AFTER the semicolon, indicating it does not apply to the code indented beneath it.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any authoritative guidelines or coding directions!

 

[KANDREWS131]

We use a rule of thumb at our practice that if a laparoscopic tool is used, we bill the unlisted code, 47379 (If Wedge Bx compare to 47100, if TruCut or Core Bx compare to 49321). If not done with a laparoscopic tool, we bill the 47001 and appeal if denied.