Question

A patient is scheduled to have a arthroscopy of the left knee. The dr inserted the arthroscope and the patient went into respiratory distress. the arthroscope was withdrawn and procedure was terminated. what is the correct modifier?

Answer 1

The correct modifier for a procedure that was started but discontinued due to complications such as respiratory distress is modifier -53, used in medical billing and coding.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a patient experiences respiratory distress during a medical procedure such as an arthroscopy of the knee and the procedure has to be terminated as a result, the correct modifier for the medical billing code would be -53. This modifier is used to indicate that a service or procedure was started but discontinued. In this scenario, because the arthroscope was inserted but the procedure had to be terminated due to respiratory complications, modifier -53 would be used when coding for insurance and billing purposes.