When reporting ureteral stent placement pay close attention to the terms “antegrade” and “retrograde.” Antegrade stent placement involves entering the ureter from above through the renal pelvis while retrograde stent placement involves entering the ureter from below through the urinary bladder. Code 50393 is an example of an antegrade procedure and code 52332 is an example of a retrograde procedure.

Bonnie G. Schreck, CCS, CPC, CPC-H, CCS-P, has been in health care for 25 years. She started in the field in medical records at an HMO, and then worked at a major University teaching facility, billing, then coding, ED, outpatient and inpatient visits. She has worked at the AAPC as a Coding Manager and with a major health care data company, having responsibility for specialty and other coding reference books and healthcare coding content. She has also performed many seminars and audits for hospitals and physicians, mainly on ICD-9-CM and ICD-10, CPT and HCPCS coding. Bonnie currently is the Director of Clinical Content at Contexo Media, where she manages coding books and healthcare data content. She is a member of AHIMA and the AAPC.
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