CPT coding for turbinate procedures.Transnasal turbinate turbinate /tur·bi·nate/ (-nat) 1. shaped like a top. 2. any of the nasal conchae. tur·bi·nate or tur·bi·nat·ed adj. 1. Shaped like a top. 2. surgery requires individualized clinical judgment because of the variety of anatomic sites, surgical techniques, and types of instrumentation involved. It is important to keep all these variations in mind when billing for turbinate surgery procedures, so that your practice will be reimbursed properly. For example, if the middle turbinate is removed during endoscopic en·do·scope n. An instrument for examining visually the interior of a bodily canal or a hollow organ such as the colon, bladder, or stomach. en ethmoidectomy (CPT CPT See: Carriage Paid To code 31254 or 31255), or endoscopic polypectomy (31237), the removal of the middle turbinate should not be reported separately. Turbinate excision/submucous resection codes 30130 ("excision inferior turbinate, partial or complete, any method") and 30140 ("submucous resection inferior turbinate, partial or complete, any method") should be reported separately. You should document that you entered or excised mucosa and preserved it when using code 30140. Simply reporting that the turbinate was excised is probably not enough documentation for this code. CPT codes 30130 and 30140 are usually reported separately with septoplasty or sphenoid sphenoid /sphe·noid/ (sfe´noid) 1. wedge-shaped. 2. sphenoid bone. sphenoi´dal sphe·noid n. The sphenoid bone. adj. 1. , maxillary max·il·lar·y adj. Of or relating to a jaw or jawbone, especially the upper one. n. A maxillar; a jawbone. maxillary (mak´siler´ē), adj , or frontal sinus surgical procedures. Watch your claims denials for bundling if you have appropriately documented and coded a separate procedure on the inferior turbinate. Remember that 30130 and 30140, along with 30930 ("fracture nasal turbinate[s], therapeutic") and 31240 ("nasal/sinus endos copy, surgical; with concha bullosa resection''), are unilateral codes, so modifier (programming) modifier - An operation that alters the state of an object. Modifiers often have names that begin with "set" and corresponding selector functions whose names begin with "get". -50 would be indicated if a procedure is performed bilaterally. Unilateral turbinate codes also differ in their numbers of global days and relative value units (RVUs). For example, 30930 has 10 global days with 3.00 nonfacility (NF) and facility (F) RVUs; 30130 has 90 global days with 9.24 RVUs (NF and F); 30140 also has 90 global days with 10.12 (NF and F) RVUs; and 31240 has 0 (zero) global days and 4.44 (NF and F) RVUs. The turbinate cautery cautery, searing or destruction of living animal tissue by use of heat or caustic chemicals. In the past, cauterization of open wounds, even those following amputation of a limb, was performed with hot irons; this served to close off the bleeding vessels as well as procedures--30801 ("cautery and/or ablation, mucosa of inferior turbinates, unilateral or bilateral, any method; superficial") and 30802 (cautery/and or ablation mucosa of inferior turbinates, unilateral or bilateral, any method; intramural intramural /in·tra·mu·ral/ (-mu´r'l) within the wall of an organ. in·tra·mu·ral adj. Occurring or situated within the walls of a cavity or organ. )--both have 10-day global periods, with 5.32 (NF) RVUs and 3.13 (F) RVUs for 30801 and 6.52 (NF) RVUs and 4.56 (F) RVUs for 30802. Finally, therapeutic injection into the turbinates, 30200 has 0 (zero) global days with 2.53 (NF) RVUs and 1.55 (F) RVUs. The appropriate diagnosis code is also important. If you report a separate procedure on the turbinate, a separate diagnosis with medical necessity is helpful. In this case, a -59 modifier might be indicated. |
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