Corporate Compliance

Tip: Using modifier -77

Compliance Monitor, October 12, 2005

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Use modifier -77 to indicate that a basic procedure performed by another physician had to be repeated in a separate operative session on the same day.

  • Use the ordering doctor to determine the appropriate modifier if a technician or the therapist performed the repetitive procedures

  • Repeat the procedure once and then report it again with modifier -77 added (two line items)

  • Do not use the units field to indicate that the procedure was performed more than once on the same day

  • If you're not sure who ordered the second procedure or whether the same physician ordered both procedures, code based on the physician who performed the procedure

    The above tip is an excerpt from the book "Modifier Training Handbook for Hospital Billers and Coders," Copyright 2004 by HCPro, Inc. This book is an easy-to-use training guide for billers, coders, and their HIM supervisors and managers that's written in plain English and takes the confusion out of the appropriate use of hospital modifiers.



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