April 25, 2019

Question:
My doctor did two adjacent tissue transfers, one on the abdomen and one on the each leg of the patient.  He wants to bill 14020 with modifier 50, but I don’t think that is correct.  Help.

Answer:
CPT code 14020 has an indicator of “0” for bilateral procedures, which means that the bilateral procedure concept does not apply and this code cannot be billed with modifier 50.    You may want to check with the payor to see how they wish the codes to be reported (14020 with 2 units; 14020, 14020-76; 14020, 14020-59 (X{SEPU}).

*This response is based on the best information available as of 4/25/19.