Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) 2010, which took effect January 1, doesn’t bring many changes for ObGyn practice, but there’s been a major backpedaling in Medicare coverage of consultations that you must be aware of. In conjunction with this move by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), CPT has added a definition of “transfer of care” and established two possible reasons for providing a consultation. I’ll have more to report about these important developments later in this article.
Among the changes to billing codes for the work performed in ObGyn: rebundling of commonly performed urodynamics procedures and new codes for revision of a vaginal graft. There is also a new (and unpublished) code for administering the H1N1 influenza vaccine.
Last, CPT has revised the explanation of non–face-to-face prolonged services. Read on!
New codes bundle urodynamic studies—a product of joint CMS and CPT input
The biggest changes in coding for ObGyn procedures are urodynamics study codes. The American Medical Association (AMA) has 1) created three new codes that represent test bundles and, in the process, 2) deleted the stand-alone urodynamics codes 51772 (urethral pressure profile studies [UPP] [urethral closure pressure profile], any technique) and 51795 (voiding pressure studies; bladder voiding pressure, any technique).
These changes were made because the most commonly reported codes for a female patient were billed together 90% of the time (51726, 51772, 51795, and 51797); the AMA reasoned that the most frequent combinations were considered overvalued when billed separately—that is, there was no repeat of pre-test and post-test work when these combinations were performed and there was no duplication in the cost of supplies and staff time.
The new bundles were therefore considered to better reflect current medical practice, and the Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) recommended, and CMS accepted, the relative value units (RVU) for the combination codes to reflect the true physician work value and practice expense of the combined procedures.
New and revised codes are:
51726 Complex cystometrogram (i.e., calibrated electronic equipment)
51727 …with urethral pressure profile studies (i.e., urethral closure pressure profile), any technique
51728 …with voiding pressure studies (i.e., bladder voiding pressure), any technique
51729 …with voiding pressure studies (i.e., bladder voiding pressure) and urethral pressure profile studies (i.e., urethral closure pressure profile), any technique.
According to the clinical vignette submitted to the AMA for code 51727, this procedure will include a sustained Valsalva maneuver as part of the urethral closure pressure profile. CPT did, however, retain the add-on code +51797 (voiding pressure studies, intra-abdominal [i.e., rectal, gastric, intraperitoneal]) and has clarified that 51797 may be billed in addition to 51728 and 51729 if a rectal catheter is placed to determine if the patient is straining during the voiding event.
In other words, the add-on code may be reported only when the primary procedure includes a voiding pressure study.
RVU for these new procedures have also been revised (see the TABLE ). Notable is the seeming discrepancy in RVU between code 51726 (cystometrogram alone) and the bundled tests. This is the case because the practice expense for 51726 has not reached its final level (the practice expense RVU are being increased or decreased in increments over several years); for 2010 only, therefore, this code will have a higher total RVU value than the new codes (51727, 51728, 51729), despite having a lower physician work relative value.
The discrepancy will be corrected in 2011, when 51726 will have lower RVU than the other urodynamics combination test codes.
TABLE
Changes in 2010 to RVU for urodynamic studies
| 2009 | 2010 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPT code | Work RVU | Total RVU | Work RVU | Total RVU |
| 51726 | 1.71 | 9.02 | 1.71 | 8.71 |
| 51727 | Not applicable (NA) | NA | 2.11 | 8.07 |
| 51728 | NA | NA | 2.11 | 8.06 |
| 51729 | NA | NA | 2.11 | 8.14 |
Laparoscopic revision of a vaginal graft
In 2006, the AMA added the code for a vaginal approach to revising a graft (57295, revision [including removal] of prosthetic vaginal graft; vaginal approach). Then, in 2007, it added a code for an abdominal approach (57296, revision [including removal] of prosthetic vaginal graft; open abdominal approach).
Now, you have a code for a laparoscopic approach, completing the code set for this procedure. As with 57295 and 57296, report the new code when the graft is either revised or removed entirely.
57426 Revision (including removal) of prosthetic vaginal graft, laparoscopic approach