Exact Measurements Are the Key to Complete Wound Care Encounter Claims
Published on Mon Oct 26, 2009
Follow this FAQ to repair coding success. When the ED physician performs open wound closure,an approximation of the repair length is enough to satisfy insurers and code accurately ... right? Wrong. When your ED physician closes a patient's open wound, being off by one-tenth of a centimeter mightmean $34 in lost revenue. Make sure you get an exact measurement or miscoding could become reality. Check out Part I of this wound care FAQ, and you'll be picking apart those perilous wound repair cases in no time. What Is an Open Wound? An open wound occurs when the skin is cut, torn, or punctured. During his recent presentation on wound care coding at The Coding Institute's ED conference in Orlando, Jeffery Linzer, MD, FAAP, FACEP, provided these examples of an open wound: • animal bites • avulsions • cuts and lacerations • puncture wounds • traumatic amputation. So if a patient [...]
