The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) defines a global surgical fee as payment to the primary operating physician for all surgically-related services rendered to the patient for that specific condition from the date of an operation through a specified number of days following surgery. The fee does not include preoperative visits, except for one related evaluation and management encounter, after the decision for surgery, on the date immediately prior to or on the date of the procedure (including history and physical). It also does not include care for post-operative complications except those frequently associated with the specific surgical procedure. When medically indicated, additional payment to an assisting physician should be made for the intraoperative portion of such care. Also, pre-operative evaluations provided by family physicians not performing the procedure should be paid separately outside the global surgical fee.
The AAFP believes the global period for all surgical services should be zero days. All surgical services with a longer global period, such as 10 or 90 days, should have their global period reduced to zero days and be revalued accordingly. Use of a zero-day global period facilitates more accurate valuation of surgical services. (1984) (2019 COD)