Respiratory Question for the Week of January 1, 2018

Question:

Can we separately report endoscopic procedures that are performed on two regions of the respiratory system with different types of endoscopes?

Answer:

Yes, both procedures may be separately reportable if they are medically reasonable and necessary. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services give the following example.

If a patient requires diagnostic bronchoscopy for a lung mass with a fiberoptic bronchoscope and a separate laryngoscopy for a laryngeal mass with a fiberoptic laryngoscope at the same patient encounter, HCPCS/CPT^® codes for both procedures may be reported separately. It must be medically reasonable and necessary to utilize two separate endoscopes to report both codes.

CPT^® is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association