JUN 12, 2018
Payment for Assistant at Surgery
Question: My surgeon was an assistant during a procedure with a retina specialist. The operative report clearly states why the assistant was necessary. However, reimbursement was minimal. Any guidance?
Answer: When appending modifier -80 to a surgery that allows for an assistant, payment will be approximately 16 percent of the allowable for Medicare and 20 percent for commercial payers.
Learn more about modifiers in Ophthalmic Coding: Learn to Code the Essentials.