# Help on surgery code for tricep tendon



## amartinez1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Patient was taken to surgery for a complete tricep tendon rupture with avulsed fragment off the ulnar aspect of olecronon and small bony fragment has been pulled off the olecronon and displaced.

The bony fragment was excised and then physician proceeded with repair of the tricep tendon. 
I was looking towards the 24342 for tricep repair with icd-9 841.8, and 24147 with icd-9 813.01 for excised bony fragment of the olecronon. Can anyone give suggestions if this is the correct pair of cpt codes and icd-9 codes for this procedure?


----------



## coderguy1939 (Apr 4, 2011)

Under AAOS guidelines, 24342 includes arthrotomy which, in some instances, includes removal of bone or cartilage fragments.  You indicate that the bony fragment was pulled off of the olecranon.  Actually, these sound more like loose bodies to me which would be included in the repair.  Without seeing the op report it's difficult to be more accurate.

Any other opinions on this one?


----------



## amartinez1 (Apr 5, 2011)

Do you have documentation from AAOS Guidlines that state that. I just need something to show my doctor since he thinks this is two different procedures and they should be billed accordingly. Thanks for your reply.


----------



## coderguy1939 (Apr 5, 2011)

Do you have access to AAOS Complete Global Service Data for Orthopedic Surgery?  If so, look up 24342 and it will show you what AAOS includes in that procedure code.  It lists arthrotomy and gives several different examples of which codes would be included.


----------

