Wiki V45.71 and V50.41

[terridiaz]

I have a patient getting that we are writing for pre approval for. She had bilateral mastectomy in 1976 for family history of breast cancer. I do all the billing and e/m coding for our office. I am starting to do the surgery coding as well so this is a little new to me I need to know can I use V45.71 and V50.41 together, or should I use just the V50.41. If I do them together which should I use as primary V50.41?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Terri Diaz

 

[dmaec]

terridiaz - per the V-code table in ICD-9 - both codes can be used as primary or other - so I don't think it'll matter which goes first.
{that's my opinion on the posted matter}

 

[FTessaBartels]

Not V50.41

Not my area of expertise ... but here are my 2 cents worth ...

I'm not entirely sure that V50.41 applies for THIS visit ... didn't you say she had bilateral mastectomy previously? To me, this code implies that the patient is seeing me for the purpose of prophlactic breast removal. Since she's already had a bilateral mastectomy, she isn't seeing me for this purpose now.

I'd stick with V45.71.

What service are you trying to pre-auth? If it's reconstruction, you might want to look at V51

F Tessa Bartels, CPC

 

[terridiaz]

Its a revision of reconstruction, because patient lost weight, that was prophylactic. The original surgery was in 1976! So maybe the V50.41 should only be used for the original surgery, not a revision?