Physician who is specially trained in operative procedures and treats injuries, deformities, and diseases by operative methods.

Branch of medicine that deals with diseases and trauma requiring invasive operative procedures.

Division of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code book that contains information about surgical procedures.

Sequencing of operative cases from those most to those least resource intensive (e.g., if a patient needs to have multiple surgical procedures, each of which occurs by itself, and the procedures could result in assignments to different diagnosis-related groups [DRGs]). A patient must be assigned to only one DRG per hospital admit.

In CPT coding, this is a surgical procedure code that includes the operation, local infiltration, digital block, or topical anesthesia, and normal, uncomplicated postoperative care. This is referred to as a “package,” and one fee covers the whole package. See also global surgery policy (GSP) .

Situation in which several surgeons are present during the operation. A five-digit CPT code number is used with an attached modifier -66 to list the procedure. If listing more than one modifier, the appropriate sequence is to list -66 first and any one of these modifiers in the next position (-54, -55).

Account that shows the insurance company’s assets minus its liabilities.

1. Dollar amount deducted from an insurance policy’s reserves to obtain the policy’s cash value. 2. Fee requested from a policy owner when the owner surrenders the policy for its cash value.