AHA Coding Clinic® for ICD-9 - 2008 Issue 3; Clarifications

Spinal Fusion with Stem Cell Aspiration

Coding Clinic, First Quarter 2006, pages 12-14, advised to assign code 99.79, Therapeutic apheresis or other injection, administration, or infusion of other therapeutic prophylactic substance, for the harvesting of stem cells mixed with bone paste and used in spinal fusion surgery. However, Coding Clinic, Third Quarter 1994, page10, advised to assign code 41.98 for bone marrow aspirate used with collagen for fracture repair. In the example featured in First Quarter 2006, it seems that code 41.98 would be more appropriate, since the stem cells were aspirated from the bone marrow. Code 99.79 describes apheresis, a procedure where blood is withdrawn, separated and reinfused. Could you please clarify the use of two different codes for similar procedures? ...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to AHA Coding Clinic® for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS .


  • The official AHA publication for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS coding guidelines and advice
  • Current newsletters added each quarter
  • Full Archives - over 3100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1984 organized by year and issue
  • Includes ICD-10-CM/PCS Articles since 2013
  • Fully searchable through Find-A-Code's Comprehensive Search
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
  • View all the articles associated with any code, right from the code page!
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • AHA's Coding Clinic® - ICD-10-CM/PCS +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.