You Be the Coder: Skip Modifiers On Subsequent-Day EGDs

Question: My physician plans to perform a repeat EGD on a patient with significant amount of food in his stomach. The initial EGD -- although completed -- is not satisfactory because of bad visualization of the stomach. What code(s) should I report?

Louisiana Subscriber

Answer: From your question we will assume the GI postponed the repeat EGD for another day to allow the food to pass into the small intestine so the stomach is clear enough for visualization. Upper endoscopy examinations have a global period of zero days (e.g., 43235, Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy including esophagus, stomach, and either the duodenum and/or jejunum as appropriate; [...]

- Published on 2011-11-10