CPT Knowledgebase - Feb 22, 2013

Regarding surgical preparation codes 15002-15005, the Skin Replacement Surgery guidelines state that the intent of these codes is to describe the services related to healing a wound by primary intention or by the use of negative pressure wound therapy. Therefore, is it appropriate to report codes 15002-15005 for the use of negative pressure wound therapy, such as to heal a degloving injury? For example, a patient had a wound on the lateral part of the tibia, fibula, and ankle measuring 60 cm 7 cm and the bone was covered with muscle and some granulation tissue. Debridement was performed, and included skin, subcutaneous tissue, and small amount of muscle. The patient had a degloving of the subcutaneous tissue, and a negative pressure wound therapy device was applied. Because the healing is more of primary intention, is it appropriate to report code 15002 or 15003 (legs) or codes from the 11042-11046 (muscle) series?

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