tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2012 Issue 5

You Be the Coder: Look to Musculoskeletal Codes for Lipoma

Question: Our surgeon excised a 3.4 cm lipoma in the sacral region. Should I choose a code from the benign (114xx) or malignant (116xx) lesion excision codes? Or should we report 49215? Kansas Subscriber Answer: None of the codes you mentioned would be appropriate for a sacral lipoma excision. Instead, you should report a soft tissue tumor code based on the location, depth, and size of the lipoma. Here's why: Lipomas are benign fatty tumors that generally occur blow the skin. You should not choose a code from the integumentary system to describe a lipoma excision. If the...

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