I have a patient who came in through the ED with a positive CT of the lower quadrant signifying possible appendicitis . The patient is taken to the OR , The physician does a laparoscopic appendectomy with abdominal lavage , he find the patient has a hemorrhagic ruptured ovarian cyst, this is why he done the lavage (49320) , to clear out the caviety from blood.
The appendix path comes back as completely normal .

My question : The intent of this surgery was to remove the appendix because of possible appendicitis , but it ended up being negative in the end .
As far as I know, the surgeon can go ahead and bill for the laparoscopic appendectomy , however there is a strong possibility of denial .
I have googled, and researched local websites and I can’t find any solid proof of the "rules" for when something like this happens. Is it ok to bill this procedure?
Can anyone show me any proof of why this is ok?