surgery

Mike has surgery to excise a lesion found at his skull base. Dr. Morris the surgeon performs both the approach procedure and the definitive procedure along with a straightforward repair of the skull. Would these procedures be reported using a bundled code or two separate codes? Would any modifiers be necessary? Would the repair to the skull made on closure be reported with a separate code?

re: surgery

[Mike has surgery to excise a lesion found at his skull base. Dr. Morris the surgeon performs both the approach procedure and the definitive procedure along with a straightforward repair of the skull. Would these procedures be reported using a bundled code or two separate codes? Would any modifiers be necessary? Would the repair to the skull made on closure be reported with a separate code?]

re: surgery

If the neurosurgeon performs both the approach and the definitive procedure, the secondary portion of the surgery is billed with modifier -51 attached. Apply modifier -51 to the procedure with the lower payment amount because definitive procedures can pay more or less than their associated approach codes.