Cardiology Coding Conferences: Save 99238-99239 For 0-day Globals

By Author: Julia Rose
Total Articles: 89
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Cardiology coding conferences
The situation: The cardiologist admitted a patient and carried out a procedure on the 23rd of the month. He reviewed the patient on the 24th, went over everything and discharged the patient. So should you charge for the hospital discharge (say for instance 99238) by the same physician for a patient during the global period of the procedure?


The answer is: Unfortunately, you may be wrong. If you are in a 90-day global period of a procedure (as would be the case with pacemaker and defibrillator surgeries) or if discharge happens to be on the same day as the surgery, you can't separately report the discharge codes 99238-99239 (Hospital discharge day management ). In these cases, the discharge is covered in the procedure coding and global period.


But there are exceptions: With certain cardiology procedures that have a zero-day global if the patient is admitted to the hospital after surgery and then discharged the next day or some days later, you can go and bill for the discharge services. You should also remember to bill hospital encounter codes if a patient ...
... is admitted to the hospital after a zero-day global procedure and stays a few days.


If you want to get answers to cardiology coding queries such as this, cardiology coding conferences are the place to be. One such conference is slated to take place in Orlando, FL this December. Here you will get an opportunity to receive up-to-the minute information on all coding, billing and reimbursement changes impacting your cardiology practice. This 2-1/2 day conference will furnish you with all the tools required to help you land the right codes from the beginning, avoid claim denials, make the most of your productivity and boost your practice's bottom-line. So go book your seat today!