A. The problem is that code 58555 is bundled into 58353 under National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) rules. Because of this, the modifier -51 (multiple procedures) cannot be used. Although this bundled code allows the use of a modifier -59 (distinct procedure), meeting the criteria for using it is almost impossible.
Modifier -59 is defined as follows in CPT: “…used to identify procedures/services that are not normally reported together, but are appropriate under the circumstances. This may represent a different session or patient encounter, different procedure or surgery, different site or organ system, separate incision/excision, separate lesion, or separate injury (or area of injury in extensive injuries) not ordinarily encountered or performed on the same day by the same physician.”
In the situation that you describe, the hysteroscope was inserted in the same area as the ablation, not at a different site; no separate excision or incision was made when inserting the hysteroscope; this was not a different surgical session; and, last, although hysteroscopy might, technically, be a distinct procedure from the ablation, it was directly related to the performance of the ablation in that it represented initial “exploration.”
I believe, therefore, that correct coding in this case is to report the all-inclusive 58563 (Hysteroscopy, surgical; with endometrial ablation [eg, endometrial resection, electrosurgical ablation, thermoablation]). Support for this opinion is found in ACOG’s Ob/GYN Coding Manual: Components of Correct Procedural Coding 2007. A comment included with code 58353 states: “If hysteroscopy is also performed, report code 58563 instead.”