LTibbetts
Guest
I am trying to gather as much info and resources as I can for chondroplasty coding along with a menisectomy. A person in another department who is not a certified coder, but is allowed to code the physician side of the surgical charts that I do, has come to me stating that she does not agree with my code selection and refuses to add the charge on her end. There was a torn lateral meniscus that was repaired along with a chondroplasty done in the lateral compartment. This is clearly documented in the op note. She is claiming that I can't code the 29877 because it is included in the 29881 and that even if I did, I would have to use a -51 modifier. I was pretty taken aback by this, especially since she is not even a certified coder.
Anyway, I have done quite a bit of research on this issue myself and I am pretty sure that I am ok to bill the 29881, 29877-59 together. I need to find proof that I can show to my supervisor stating that this is appropriate for coding this chart. I have an article from the AAOS archives and I can find stuff on the CMS website but it mostly pertains to their G code and I am not sure that it will be helpful enough to my supervisor because I know that you can use the G code more than once but only use the 29877 code one time and I don't want to confuse her more as she is also not a certified coder. Please help. Can anyone tell me of any other resources on this matter to support my selection of codes and if there is anyone who does not agree with me, please let me know why as I thought I was right with this.
Anyway, I have done quite a bit of research on this issue myself and I am pretty sure that I am ok to bill the 29881, 29877-59 together. I need to find proof that I can show to my supervisor stating that this is appropriate for coding this chart. I have an article from the AAOS archives and I can find stuff on the CMS website but it mostly pertains to their G code and I am not sure that it will be helpful enough to my supervisor because I know that you can use the G code more than once but only use the 29877 code one time and I don't want to confuse her more as she is also not a certified coder. Please help. Can anyone tell me of any other resources on this matter to support my selection of codes and if there is anyone who does not agree with me, please let me know why as I thought I was right with this.