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Anesthesia Coding Alert

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Grafting Procedures

Published on Tue May 01, 2001

Question: What anesthesia code corresponds with grafting procedure 15736 (muscle, myocutaneous, or fasciocutaneous flap; upper extremity)?

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Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.



Answer: Code 15736 is a site-differential code, which means the appropriate anesthesia code varies according to the part of the body on which the procedure is performed.

Recommended anesthesia codes for grafting are:

01250 (anesthesia for all procedures on nerves, muscles, tendons, fascia, and bursae of upper leg);

01320 (anesthesia for all procedures on nerves, muscles, tendons, fascia, and bursae of knee and/or popliteal area); and

01470 (anesthesia for procedures on nerves, muscles, tendons, and fascia of lower leg, ankle, and foot; not otherwise specified).

Remember that 15736 is one of four graft codes used for the donor site (place from which skin and/or deep tissues are taken) rather than the recipient site (where the graft is placed).

Note: The other three donor-site codes are 15732 (muscle, myocutaneous, or fasciocutaneous flap; head and neck [e.g., temporalis, masseter, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapulae]), 15734 (... trunk) and 15738 (... lower extremity).

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