Journalists working on stories related to high-risk pregnancies or the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine can contact Greg Phillips, Director of Communications, at press@smfm.org for referrals to MFM experts and to request additional information. The press office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM ET.
The ICD-10 O28 code series are used to describe abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother as a reason for an encounter. The series includes O28.0 – O28.9. In order to better understand the O28 code series, the corresponding ICD-10 descriptors along with some additional notes and... Continue Reading
The CPT code book clearly indicates that multiple ultrasound services that occur during a single encounter can each be reported separately. However, before payers will reimburse for multiple ultrasound services, the medical necessity of each service must be established. These four tips will help... Continue Reading
Performance of KCL intramniotic/intracardiac injection to arrest the fetal heart, prior to a termination procedure is a coding challenge. Common MFM practice is to provide the KCL injection into the fetal heart with ultrasound guidance only in the office or pre-operatively. In the majority of... Continue Reading
If a patient has a diagnosis of obesity (BMI ≥ 30) O99.21__ (obesity complicating pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium) is an accepted indication for a detailed fetal anatomy survey (CPT 76811) according to published guidelines. To determine BMI in a pregnancy affected by obesity, we... Continue Reading
Placenta accreta is defined as an abnormal invasion of all or part of the placenta into the myometrial wall of the uterus. Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is the more current terminology to refer to the range of abnormal placental invasion that includes placenta accreta, increta and percreta. ... Continue Reading
The global maternity care package includes all the services normally provided in uncomplicated maternity cases. There are services that may or may not relate to the pregnancy which are outside of the Global OB care and should be reported separately. These include but not limited... Continue Reading
A vanishing twin (or fetal resorption) is a fetus in a multi-gestation that fails to develop or dies in utero and is then partially or completely resorbed. Fetal numbering is most commonly determined by ultrasound. The baby positioned lowest in the uterus is usually given the designation of... Continue Reading
The use of ultrasound to guide procedures in obstetrics is common. In addition to the relevant primary procedure code being performed, additional separate coding for ultrasound guidance, depending on the procedure type and setting, should be included and reflected in the documentation. The... Continue Reading
Recently, our membership has had questions regarding the appropriate use and required components of CPT codes 76805, 76816 and 76815. This coding tip reviews the components of each imaging study, as well as provides some clinical scenarios of appropriate use: It is important to distinguish,... Continue Reading
Use of the uterine size/dates discrepancy code set (O26.841-O26.849) is appropriate when the measurement between the symphysis pubis and the top of the fundus is not consistent with the stated dates. There may be a diagnosis of uterine size/dates discrepancy, whether the fetus itself is large,... Continue Reading
Important Tips: 1. It will be relatively rare for an MFM physician to bill global obstetric care, because some portion of the antepartum service will have typically been provided by an obstetrician unaffiliated withhis/her practice. The most common occasion in which it will occur is when an MFM... Continue Reading
Cell-free fetal DNA (cfDNA) screening has enhanced the ability to offer early aneuploidy screeningin pregnancy. The purpose of this White Paper is to describe billing recommendations when cfDNAscreening is done or considered in conjunction with first trimester Nuchal Translucency screening(CPT... Continue Reading
