Billing Two Hernias

Question:

The surgeon performed a laparoscopic repair of an initial strangulated ventral hernia and a laparoscopic repair of an inguinal hernia on the same day. Can the surgeon bill for both procedures?

Answer:

Yes, both procedures can be reported with codes 49592, 49594, or 49596, depending on size, and 49650,Laparoscopy, surgical; repair initial inguinal hernia.Because this code pair does not have a National Correct Coding Initiative edit, modifier 51,Multiple procedures, would be appended to the lower-valued code.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 07/06/23.