What is the Global Period in Medical Billing?

The Global Period is one of the most important. It’s part of the Global Surgery Concept introduced by Medicare to streamline billing for surgical procedures.

In simple terms, the global period is a specific timeframe during which all surgical services, including post-operative visits, are bundled under a single claim. This means providers cannot bill them separately. For those unfamiliar with surgery, global periods are normally 0, 10, or 90 days. For now, we will tackle this one bite at a time.

Services Provided Under the Global Period

Medicare defines global periods differently for major and minor surgeries:

• Major surgeries – 90 days (starting one day before surgery)
• Minor surgeries – 0 or 10 days (including the day of surgery)

Covered services typically include:

Pre-Operative Care

Intraoperative Care

Post-Operative Care

Not Included in the Global Period:

• Unrelated consultations
• Emergency services
• Separate, unrelated procedures

Post-Operative Modifiers for Global Period

Modifiers provide additional details when services fall inside or outside the global package. Common ones include:

• Modifier 24 – E/M and unrelated service during the global period.
• Modifier 58 – Staged or related procedure during the recovery period.
• Modifier 78 – Unplanned return to surgery for related issue.
• Modifier 79 – Unrelated procedure by the same physician during the global period.

Applying the correct modifier may assist with compliance and reimbursement.

At MediDocCareMD, we help healthcare providers manage complex billing rules like the global period so they can focus on patient care while we ensure proper claim submission and maximum reimbursements.