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How to bill Certified Surgical Assists 70019, 70020, 00198
How to bill Certified Surgical Assists 70019, 70020, 00198

Surgical Assists

Tessa Brown avatar
Written by Tessa Brown
Updated over a week ago

Certified surgical assist qualify when it is necessary for one certified surgeon to assist another certified surgeon, an explanation of the medical necessity will be required for any procedures prefixed by the letter "C"

Common Errors:  Often time related and claims logged incorrectly

Billing Example. 

Total OR time: 5 hours - 0900-1400  would be entered as follows.
Diagnosis: [38A]

  1. 70019 - 1st hour - Start time is when you enter the OR suite: 0900 and billable for the first 1 hour only.  So entry would be 0900-1000.

  2. 70020- billing for hours 2-3, and start time would be 1000-1200. start and end of the second and third hour.

  3. 00198- is billable for the time remaining and will only be paid once the 70019/20 have been paid.  Times to enter based on the above scenario would be 1200-1400 which would bill the remaining 8 units eligible.  Dr. Bill web/app will automatically calculate the units based on this entry.   E-note is required and should read TTL OR 0900-1400.


Delays in payment:

  1. These surgical assist fee codes are payable AFTER the surgeon has billed and been paid.  There can be a delay to these payments between billing cycles 

Common Rejections: it is not unusual for the 70020 to be denied if they 70019 hasn't been paid.  Simply resubmit these claims and eventually they will catch up.  If you are on our full service plan these are handled for you.

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