tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2007 Issue 5

Readers Question: Consider More Than Layers When Reporting Wound Repair

Question: Which is the appropriate code to report repair of an irregular, 5-cm laceration on the forehead involving subcutaneous tissue and muscle?Tennessee SubscriberAnswer: From your description, this sounds like an intermediate-level wound repair, for which you should report 12052 (Layer closure of wounds of face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips, and/or mucous membranes; 2.6 cm to 5.0 cm).During an intermediate repair, the surgeon usually closes one or more of the deeper layers of subcutaneous tissue and superficial (non-muscle) fascia, in addition to the skin closure, according to CPT instructions.Keep in mind: Layers alone do not...

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