Tips To Keep Your Modified Barium Swallow Claims Clear

By Author: Angela Martin
Total Articles: 206
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When your radiologist works in tandem with a speech-language pathologist to evaluate speech or swallowing function, you need to keep a close eye out both for which procedure they carried out and which aspects your radiologist can report. Take a closer look at the codes you need to know:


Match 74230 to Modified Barium Swallow


The service described by 74230 is primarily carried out for evaluating the patient's swallowing function.


Watch SLP role to prevent 92611 mishap


Ascertaining which providers carried out which services is important to properly code the modified barium swallow.


Save 70371 for speech evals


When documentation shows a modified barium swallow, you would want to take care not to report 70371 - a speech evaluation code by mistake.


Take the help of this authoritative resource


CPT Assistant (December 20040 covers various helpful clues for distinguishing 92611, 74230, and 70371:


92611indicates a videofluoroscopic evaluation, which incorporates ...
... the use of cine (ie; motion pictures) or video recording to study the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, and upper esophagus. Various consistencies of ingestants and maneuvers are tested to determine if the patient can protect his or her airway and swallow adequately to maintain nutrition.


74230: Imaging for 92611 is reported separately by using code 74230 to identify the radiologic supervision and interpretation.


For more updates on radiology coding, sign up for an audio conference. When you get onboard such a conference, you will get detailed information on CPT, ICD 9 and other codes affecting your radiology practice. But the advantage of attending such a conference is that you can attend it from the comforts of your office or meeting place. Even if you miss out on a scheduled radiology coding conference, you can always fall back on CDs and PDF transcripts to take you through the entire event. You can even earn CEUs by attending such a conference.