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Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Contact Congress Over Drug Shortage Issues

A Kentucky congressman is urging surgical facilities to contact their members of Congress and request that they sign his letter demanding changes to...

N.J. Posts ASC Inspection Reports Online

State and federal inspection reports of New Jersey's ASCs are now available online, giving patients an opportunity to make more informed choices abo...

Are Opioids Necessary?

While it's not always practical, or even possible, to eliminate opioids from your post-op pain management regiment, reducing their use in favor of n...

Archive > March, 2006 Vol. VII, No. 3

A Look Inside Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release

Boosters say this closed-wrist procedure is quicker, more profitable and better for patients.

Connie O'Kane, Senior Associate Editor

When CMS added CPT 29848 (wrist endoscopy) to the ASC Medicare List in July 2003, it made endoscopic carpal tunnel release a Group 9 procedure - $1,339 by today's unadjusted rate. Open carpal tunnel release (CPT 64721) is a Group 2 procedure, reimbursed at $446, nearly three times less than the endoscopic procedure. It was around this time that more surgeons began discovering the benefits of minimally invasive surgical techniques for carpal tunnel release. The closed-wrist procedure is said to be quicker and cleaner - albeit trickier - to perform, and you can perform it in a procedure room rather than an OR.

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Categories: Code/Bill/Reimburse, Orthopedics, Spine/Neurosurgery
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