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CPT 70450 and 70480

Date: Mar 15, 2021

Question:

When reading question #3 on page 154 of your Diagnostic Radiology Coding Reference (2021 edition), you advise not to report the codes for both the CT head and a CT orbit. However, when a trauma patient is treated at our facility and an order is placed for a CT head and a CT orbit, we complete two separate acquisitions and provide two separate reports in the medical record. The radiologist documents the different techniques on each report. Are we correct in applying the -59 modifier to the CT orbit, 70480?

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