# Does this qualify as foreign body removal?



## betsycpcp (Jul 26, 2013)

A provider is billing 10121 (incision and removal of foreign body, complicated) and 12001 (simple wound repair).  They didn't make an incision and remove a foreign body so I'm wondering if it should be coded as intermediate wound repair (12041) due to the grit that had to be removed, or since they use the word debridement should 11042 be in there somewhere?  Here's the note (it was a 2.5 cm laceration between web space of index and middle fingers):

The wound was cleaned with dilute Betadine and saline solution.  Anesthetized with 2% Xylocaine plain, and 10 to 15 minutes were spent debriding the wound of multiple small pieces of grit.  A few pieces were ground into the tissue and could not be readily removed.  The wound was then closed with four sutures, two vertical mattress sutures and two simple sutures.  The procedure was well tolerated.

What codes would you use?


----------



## Mojo (Jul 26, 2013)

It looks like an intermediate repair requiring removal of particulate matter with single layer closure. There wasn't any gross contamination with significant devitalized tissue removed to warrant a separate debridement code. I'd also assign a complicated wound diagnosis code due to the grit foreign bodies.


----------



## betsycpcp (Jul 30, 2013)

Thanks, that makes sense.


----------

