Wiki Need Help With Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy that turned to open Cholecystectomy

[alisakaraminasyan@yahoo.com]

we had a case recently that the Lap Chole had to be converted to open due to gallbladder inflammation. auth is approved for Lap Chole not open procedure this is the recent why doctor turned to open Cholecystectomy.

After evaluation and seeing the scarring and significant chronic inflammation in the area of the gallbladder as well as the involvement of the colon in the region warranted to convert to open procedure. please help me to code it correctly.

Thank you

 

[csperoni]

When any laparoscopic procedure is converted to an open procedure, you code how the surgery was accomplished, not how it was intended. You should add diagnosis (not as primary)
Z53.31 Laparoscopic surgical procedure converted to open procedure
Regarding the authorization, as soon as this change is determined, best practice is to contact the insurance to inform them of the change. Most insurances allow a specific timeframe after the planned procedure to change the authorization.
Some insurances may still pay upon appeal even if you didn't change the authorization in their timeframe. Others will not.
You always code the procedure that was done, even if it is not what was authorized.