What one expert wants newer billers to know about coding maternity and delivery services

Coding instructor and compliance auditor Mike Enos, with Enos Medical Coding, recently wrote an article outlining concepts about coding and billing for obstetric patients.

The article, published on contemporaryobgyn.net, offers these ideas:

  • Maternity care and delivery billing codes apply to antepartum care, delivery services and postpartum care in uncomplicated pregnancies
  • There are codes to bill for antepartum care, delivery and postpartum care together, if the same provider performed all three, or for each component separately.
  • A pregnancy confirmed during a problem-oriented or preventive visit should be billed using the appropriate evaluation and management code, such as an outpatient office visit.
  • For delivery coding, 59610 is used to report routine OB care, including antepartum care, vaginal delivery and postpartum care, if the person has had a previous cesarean delivery. However, 59618 is used when a patient who previously had a cesarean delivery tries to deliver vaginally but has another caesarian delivery.

Read the full article here.

 

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