Ear Exam Under Anesthesia

Question:

Our surgeon performed an evaluation of the external ear canal on a pediatric patient, under general anesthesia, because the child would not allow the surgeon to evaluate the ears thoroughly in the office. We cannot find a CPT code for this service. Do we use an unlisted code?

Answer:

CPT code 92502, (Otolaryngologic examination under general anesthesia) describes a complete ENT exam under general anesthesia. If only the ears were examined, then modifier 52 (reduced services) would be appended to indicate an entire otolaryngologic examination was not performed.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 01/23/20