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General Surgery Coding Alert

General Surgery Coding:

Understand What Separates Modifiers 78 and 79

Published on Wed Nov 11, 2026

Question: I have an operative report for a thyroid lobectomy procedure. Following the procedure, the patient complained of difficulty swallowing and hoarseness when speaking. The same surgeon returned the patient to the operating suite and performed a diagnostic laryngoscopy to examine the patient’s vocal cords. Should I append modifier 78 or modifier 79 to 31575 for this scenario? Revenue Cycle [...]
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