July 23, 2020

Question:
My provider indicated that it took her an additional 80 minutes during a surgery to perform adhesiolysis. Is documentation of the time sufficient?

Answer:
Although time (specific minutes) must be indicated in the operative note, the provider must also give the reason why the lysis took longer (what complicated this part of the surgery). For example, the patient’s BMI was 42 or history of 10 previous abdominal surgeries. This is true for any time modifier -22 is used for any procedure, not just for lysing adhesions.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 7/23/20.