Medical Billing Dilemma: Adjustment of Gastric Band

Sometimes after a gastric band procedure, the band may slip during healing and need to be adjusted. The uncertain thing is how to bill the procedure since you have already billed the global.

HCPCS temporary code S2083 (Adjustment of gastric band diameter via subcutaneous port by injection or aspiration of saline) or CPT code 43771 but both of these require that the physician use a laparoscope during the procedure and usually moving the band is done through injecting saline or removing saline from the band to make it easier to adjust through a subQ port.

For most instances you can use S2083, normally you will only use 43771 if patient is taken back into surgery due to complications in the moving of the band such as a prolapse or other issue. If a flouro is used in the procedure, code 77002 may be more fitting for your medical billing and another alternative that may be a better fit, depending on the situation, is 90779 (Unlisted Therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic intravenous or intra-arterial injection…) which was one of the range added to the CPT in late 2006.

The key is obviously find the best fit for your procedure and back it up with the strongest documentation you can, especially since there isn’t a specific code for this procedure at this time.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P