tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 2000 Issue 4

Detailed Documentation is Key to Wound Debridement Payment

When reporting debridementspartial thickness, full thickness, skin and subcutaneous tissuehow do you know which codes to use? asks Kay Spading, RHIT, coding specialist at Marengo Memorial Hospital in Marengo, Iowa. The answer lies mainly in getting ED physicians to provide adequate documentation of the debridement and decontamination procedures performed, says Betty Ann Price, RN, BSN, CCS-P, president of Professional Reimbursement and Coding Strategies, a consulting firm based in Palmetto, Fla. The physician documentation should clearly indicate the extent of the injury by illustration and/or detailed description, she states. It is virtually impossible to presume the depth and layers of...

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