tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2010 Issue 11

You Be the Coder: 44120 Has Two Ends

Question: The surgeon performed a small bowel resection, placing bowel clamps at proximal and distal resection margins surrounding necrotic tissue. The surgeon then reanastomosed the small bowel by opening an enterotomy in both the proximal and distal end. Should we report this as 44120 and 44121 for an additional resection?Answer: No, the correct coding for this case is simply 44120 (Enterectomy, resection of small intestine; single resection and anastomosis).The surgeon removed only one necrotic bowel section. If the patient had multiple necrotic bowel sections and the surgeon removed each section, you would report +44121 (... each additional...

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.