tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2010 Issue 3

Reader Question: Don't Overstate Debridement

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 SubscriberAnswer: 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 question these codes most closely describe wound debridement by sharp curettement. You should only report wound care management...

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.