tci Outpatient Facility Coding Alert - 2016 Issue 4

Reader Question: Base Your Code on Closure, Not Lesion Size

Question: Our dermatologist performeda melanoma excision followed by a layered closure. Should we add the dimensions of the lesion excision to determine the code choice for the closure? New Mexico Subscriber Answer: No, you should not base the closure code on the lesion excision size at all. Instead, you should base it on the closure size. When the surgeon excises a lesion, the code includes simple (single layer) closure. But if the surgeon performs a layered closure as you described, you can separately bill the intermediate closure. Do this: What you need to know before billing the closure is...

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