tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2006 Issue 5

You Be the Coder: What's the Status of Post-Op Mesh Removal?

Question: The patient had a hernia repair by another surgeon more than 90 days ago and now has infected mesh. Would we still report the removal of the mesh as a post-op complication from the initial surgery?Louisiana Subscriber Answer: Because the global period of the initial surgery has passed, you would not report a return to the operating room to remove the infected mesh as a complication of the original procedure. Instead, you should rely on a primary diagnosis of 996.60 (Infection and inflammatory reaction due to unspecified device, implant and graft).Unfortunately, CPT does not include...

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