Surgical Coders: Don’t Overstate Debridement
Tip: This encounter involves topical applications and patient care instruction in addition to removing devitalized tissue.
Question: When the surgeon performs a wound VAC or cleans a wound by scraping with a sharp curette (not excising tissue), is it appropriate to use a debridement code or should we report an active wound care management code from the range 97597-97606?
Ohio Subscriber
Answer: Physicians typically use the debridement codes (11000-11001, Debridement of extensive eczematous or infected skin; … or 11004-11005, Debridement of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle and fascia for necrotizing soft tissue infection; …) for debridement by any method.
Without...
Categories: 11000, 11001, 11004, 11005, 11040, 11044, 97597, 97605, 97606, CPT, Coding Challenge, Debridement, Soft Tissue, VAC, infection, skin, surgery, surgical, vacuum, wound Tags: coders, Curette, Drainage, fascia, Interventions, Management Code, Management Series, Ongoing Care, patient care, Soft Tissue Infection, Subcutaneous Tissue, Surgical Debridement, Therapeutic Service, Topical Application, Topical Applications, Vacuum Assisted Closure, Wound Care Management, Wound Debridement, Wound Therapy, Wound Vac
Among 2054 Edits, Correct Coding Initiative 16.1 Scraps Cardiology Bundle
Help is here: One troublesome, confusing edit is no longer an issue.
You may still be getting to know your CPT 2010 manual, but the new edition of CCI, effective April1, is already looking to make some code pairings impossible....
Categories: 11004, 11006, 16.1, 29806, 29825, 64450, 85025, 85027, 88738, 93610, 93612, 93651, CCI, Correct Coding Initiative, Provider News, bundle, edit, modifier 59, version 16.1 Tags: Anesthetic Agent, April1, Bsn, Catheter Ablation, Code Pairs, Correct Coding Initiative, CPT, Deletions, Frozen Shoulder, Mbb, Minneapolis Minn, Mpa, New Edition, Peripheral Nerve, Research Specialist, Scraps, Senior Analyst, Shoulder Arthroscopy, Shoulder Surgery, Solutions Inc