How can I find out what a medical procedure code means on a bill?
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our angus asked:
I have a medical bill with charges for x-rays with 2 procedure codes. How do I find out what the codes mean?
Bamboo Wind Chimes
I have a medical bill with charges for x-rays with 2 procedure codes. How do I find out what the codes mean?
Bamboo Wind Chimes
September 3rd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
The medical billing office have a code book. Call your doctor’s office.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Check on the net.
September 5th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
It depends on your Insurance company. Call them and ask, but first did you turn the statement over and check to see if they identify them there? My old insurance co. did that.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
type the code # and CPT into a browser, like google.
I.e. if the procedure code you have is 73725 type, 73725 cpt
Hit enter. Several things will come up. Read through your options.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
You would either need to have access to a coding book (to get the precise definition), or you could plug the code into Google if you just wanted to get a general idea.
(Ex - plugging 97110 CPT into Google then scanning the results would show you that its a code for therapeutic exercise…something that’s generally billed by physical therapists.)
With an X-ray, the code is most likely specifying what part of the body the X-ray was done on. For example, 73070 is an X-ray of the elbow. If you see a modifier “26″ attached to the code, it means that the charge was for the reading of the X-ray. (73070 would be the charge for the taking of the wrist x-ray. 73070-26 would be the physician’s fee for the reading and interpretation of that x-ray.)