Does your organization find the global surgical package challenging to work with? Check out our latest whitepaper!
On December 21, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their MLN Connects Newsletter addressing a compliance topic of correctly billing services rendered during the global surgical period. This comes as a result of a recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) report citing that providers do not always comply with federal requirements when they bill for surgical services, focusing on co-surgeon (modifier -62) and assistant-at-surgery modifiers (modifiers -80, -81, -82, & -AS).
Let’s first define what the “global surgical package” is. When a patient undergoes a minor or major procedure, there is typically a 10- or 90-day global period, respectively. This period is sometimes called the post-op period and covers all related services before, during, and after a procedure for a set number of days. The Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Chapter 12, Sections 40-40.1) informs that the following services are considered components of the global surgical package:
- Preoperative visits
- Intra-operative services that are considered a usual and necessary part of a surgical procedure
- Complications Following Surgery
- Postoperative visits
- Postsurgical pain management
- Supplies
- Miscellaneous Services
- Items such as dressing changes; local incisional care; removal of operative pack; removal of cutaneous sutures and staples, lines, wires, tubes, drains, casts, and splints; insertion, irrigation and removal of urinary catheters, routine peripheral intravenous lines, nasogastric and rectal tubes; and changes and removal of tracheostomy tubes.
This white paper takes a deep-dive into all things included & not included in the Global Surgical Package.
LW Consulting, Inc. (LWCI) offers a comprehensive range of services that can assist your organization in maintaining compliance, identifying trends, providing education and training, or conducting documentation and coding audits. For more information, contact LWCI to connect with one of our experts!
