tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2002 Issue 6

You Be the Coder: Debridement of Pressure Ulcers

Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer. Question: When pressure ulcers are debrided at multiple sites, should we use modifier -59 to indicate that different areas were debrided?South Carolina Subscriber     Answer: If the sites are on the same side of the body, modifier -59 (Distinct procedural service) should be used to report the second (or multiple) debridements. If the debridements are performed on different sides, however, most Medicare carriers prefer that modifiers -LT (Left side) and -RT (Right side) be used. The second...

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