tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2008 Issue 3

You Be the Coder: How Many ICD-9s for Multiple Burns?

Question: Our surgeon saw a patient for two burns: a second-degree burn on her right wrist and a separate first-degree burn at the same location. How many diagnosis codes should I report? Michigan Subscriber Answer: Because the burns were in the same anatomic location, you should report the burns to the highest degree of severity using a single code, and leave the burn of lesser severity off the claim. For this encounter, therefore, you would report 944.27 (Burn of wrist[s] and hand[s]; blisters, epidermal loss [second degree]; wrist) to represent both burns. If the burns were instead in...

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