tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2013 Issue 10

Reader Question: Check 'Strangulation' for Hernia Repair

Question: Our surgeon carried out an open umbilical hernia repair for a 15-year-old patient. The tissue removed was identified as a portion of incarcerated omentum and fibroadipose tissue compatible with a hernia sac. What are the correct procedure and diagnosis codes?Kentucky Subscriber Answer: The correct diagnosis code is 552.1 (Umbilical hernia with obstruction). Because the surgeon removes a portion of incarcerated omentum, you know that the hernia involves an obstruction. Also there is no mention of gangrene. For those reasons, you would not report either of the following diagnosis codes: 551.1 — Umbilical hernia with gangrene...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci General Surgery Coding Alert.


Leverage vital, to-the-point monthly guidance to boost your reporting accuracy and your coding know-how. We make it convenient for your team to stay informed, compliant, and profitable with a subscription to TCI’s General Surgery Coding Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1999 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • tci General Surgery Coding Alert +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

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