The following rules apply:

    *  Modifier 79 applies to surgical procedures performed on patients while they are in a postoperative period for a different, unrelated surgery. The new surgical procedure is performed to treat a new problem or injury.
    * Modifier 79 is required when reporting identical procedures that are performed on the same day, but are not repeats of the same procedure on the same anatomical site.
    * The unrelated procedure starts a new global period.
    * Do not report with modifiers 58 or 78.
    * Modifier 79 is an information modifier.

Example

On May 1, a patient undergoes a complex cataract surgery (66982) on her right eye, and then has the same surgery performed on her left eye on June 1. The second cataract surgery on her left eye would be reported as 66982-79-LT.