Forum - Questions & Answers

Feb 12th, 2014 - hcg 6 

Global period?

Patient had panniculectomy performed by a different doctor. Then 12 days after patient noticed some redness on the wound, increasing pain and discomfort. So patient was advised by the doctor who performed the procedure to be seed in ER for evaluation. My doctor saw the patient for evaluation.

The question is, can I bill this evaluation? or is this part of the global period of the panniculectomy? To me, this is not part of the global period but I need any thoughts on this.

Thank you.

Feb 12th, 2014 - cmc2012 14 

re: Global period?

"Physicians who provide follow-up services for minor procedures performed in emergency departments bill the appropiate level of E/M code, without a modifier." also "If the services of a physician other than the surgeon are required during a post-operative period for an underlying condition or medical complication, the other physician reports the appropiate E/M code. No modifiers are necessary on the claim."
I read the above statement from the Medicare website "Global Surgery Fact Sheet". If the surgeon formally transferred the post op care of the patient to your physician then a modifier 55 is required, but it doesn't seem that way.
I am new to surgery coding/billing and have been doing lots of research/reading, hope the info above helps.... :)

Feb 12th, 2014 - hcg 6 

re: Global period?

Thank you so much for the help. I would look into that fact sheet in CMS website so I can show it to my doctor. He said this is global billing but I wanted to show him facts.

I appreciate it :-)



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