Breast Biopsy
Good Morning..We use the 58 Modifier when a patient is taken back to the operating room for a more extensive procedure. Also, please check to see if the patient did not have a partial mastectomy, lumpectomy the 2nd time. I have attached an article from AAPC. Hope this helps.
Teresa Cooper, CGSC
Mastectomy or Excision? Consider the Margins
By John Verhovshek
In Coding
August 29, 2016
No Comments
Mastectomy or Excision? Consider the Margins
When deciding between 19120 Excision of cyst, fibroadenoma, or other benign or malignant tumor, aberrant breast tissue, duct lesion, nipple or areolar lesion (except 19300), open, male or female, 1 or more lesions and 19301 Mastectomy, partial (eg, lumpectomy, tylectomy, quadrantectomy, segmentectomy, search the documentation to determine whether a margin of health tissue was removed, along with the breast mass.
If the surgeon removes only the mass, with little or no margin, look first to 19120. Report one unit of 19120, per incision (not per mass removed). CPT® Assistant (March 2005) instructs:
…code 19120 should be reported for each of the separate excised areas since it includes one or more lesions through the same incision. However, if excisions are performed on different areas of the breast through separate incision sites, code 19120 should be reported for each incised area. Modifier 59 [Distinct Procedural Service] should be appended to the second procedure code.
For more extensive resection performed for gynecomastia [benign enlargement of breast tissue], report 19300 [Mastectomy for gynecomastia]” (CPT® Assistant, March 2014). Claim 19300 for male patients, only, “as gynecomastia is a male condition” (CPT® Assistant, Feb. 2007).
When the surgeon removes a breast lesion with a margin of healthy tissue, look to 19301. CPT Assistant (Feb. 2007) instructs:
Partial mastectomy procedures describe open excisions of breast tissue and include specific attention to adequate surgical margins surrounding the breast mass or lesion. In a partial mastectomy, a larger amount of breast tissue and some skin are removed with the tumor. This also includes removal of the lining over chest muscles below the tumor. This surgery is usually performed for stage 1 and 2 tumors. This code is reported also for the performance of a lumpectomy where the tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue are removed.
In these cases, the mass is suspected or known to be malignant, and the margin of health tissue is removed to ensure that the entire malignancy has been excised.