July 6, 2023

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.