Billing E/M Visits During the Global Period

Question:

Can I bill different diagnosis codes for conditions/problems when seeing a patient in the hospital after surgery, but during the stay of a major surgery?

Answer:

It depends. You cannot bill for related issues or known complications that arise from the surgery, but you can bill for unrelated conditions/problems with proper documentation that supports billing. It must be clear in the documentation that the condition is unrelated with a clear plan of treatment for the new/unrelated issue. You would need to add a modifier -24 to any unrelated E/M service performed.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 02/10/22.