The author reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
Take note, ObGyns: A number of changes in Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) 2009—those changes took effect January 1—are going to modify the way you bill and will have an impact on your reimbursement. Most of these changes are minor, although renumbering of infusion codes will require changes to the encounter form. And I have good and bad news for urogynecologists who perform vaginal paravaginal repairs and sling procedures for stress urinary incontinence. Read on for details!
Mesh for vaginal paravaginal defect repair—
code error corrected
Code 57267 is an add-on code that describes the insertion of mesh, or other prosthesis, through a vaginal approach when native tissues have been determined to be weak and inadequate for repair—especially in patients who have undergone a previous attempt at repair. As an add-on code, it can be billed only in addition to other, specific procedures.
Before January 1, code 57267 could only be reported with an anterior or posterior colporrhaphy, or both, or with a rectocele repair without colporrhaphy.
When performing a vaginal approach paravaginal defect repair, however, the same weakened tissues also require use of the mesh, yet code 57825 (paravaginal defect repair [including repair of cystocele, if performed]) was not included as one of the allowed codes. This error is rectified in 2009.
You must still be aware that reporting the 57267 add-on code requires that you establish medical necessity for its use. Documentation of weakened, attenuated, or incompetent pubocervical tissue in the case of a paravaginal repair (International Classification of Diseases Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] code 618.81) or rectovaginal tissue for rectocele/enterocele repair (618.82) continues to be important when reporting the add-on mesh code.
A reminder about anesthesia
Until January 1, codes 57400 (dilation of vagina), 57410 (pelvic examination), and 57415 (removal of impacted vaginal foreign body) read “under anesthesia.” In a move to standardize terminology, these codes will be revised to add the wording “other than local.” The revision clarifies that 1) all surgical codes include administration of a local anesthetic and 2) codes designated with “under anesthesia” refer to regional blocks and general anesthesia.
of 2 urogynecology procedures for UI!
Although not a CPT change, it’s worth noting that physicians who perform 1) sling operations for correcting stress urinary incontinence or 2) subsequent revisions because of problems with fascia or synthetic mesh need to be aware that the physician work relative value for these procedures has been decreased in 2009 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Why the drop? According to CMS, results of surveys by the American Urogynecologic Society and the American Urological Association indicate that the procedures are not as difficult to perform as once considered.
The two affected codes are:
| 57288 | Sling operation for stress incontinence (e.g., fascia or synthetic) |
| 57287 | Removal or revision of sling for stress urinary incontinence (e.g., fascia or synthetic) |
The change will result in a decline in payment for these procedures by Medicare and some non-Medicare payers, and will be felt harder with sling procedures than with revisions. Why? The work relative value units (RVUs) decreased for 57287, but that decrease was offset by an increase in practice expense relative value—which resulted in total RVUs increasing for this code in 2009, from 18.31 to 18.53.
Code 57288, on the other hand, has been tagged with a decrease in both the physician work and practice expense RVUs. Total RVUs for this code, therefore, have dropped from 21.59 to 19.62. In Medicare dollars, that equates to about $118 less for the same procedure when one applies the 2009 Medicare conversion factor of $36.07.
New human papillomavirus vaccine, new code
A new code, 90650, has been added to report the newer bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which contains an adjuvant formulation and is intended to protect against infection by high-risk HPV types 16 and 18. The existing HPV vaccine code, 90649, targets those high-risk types of HPV and two low-risk types (6 and 11).
Coverage recommendations for the new vaccine match those of the existing, quadrivalent vaccine, but not all payers are covering the HPV vaccine based on those recommendations. The new vaccine offers a less costly alternative for patients whose health-care insurance does not cover the vaccine or who are uninsured.