Most coding professionals have heard modifier -59 (distinct procedural service) referred to as a modifier of last resort and to be cautious in using this modifier.
Lately I've received a lot of questions from hospitals about how to determine when and if it's appropriate to report an E/M visit code on the same date of service as a scheduled procedure.
In an effort to accommodate the latest advances in technology and make the code set easier to modify for future technological changes, the AMA extensively overhauled codes for reporting drug testing in the 2015 CPT® Manual.
The April quarterly I/OCE update from CMS did not defy convention featuring the typically small number of updates following extensive changes in the previous quarter but CMS did continue to clarify
