ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Here's why you should never label a lesion malignant on your own. Patients reporting to the ED for lesion removal present special challenges for the coder, who typically doesn't have time to wait on pathology reports before choosing a CPT code for the procedure. Further, you have to know how CPT breaks the body down when a patient reports with an oozing scab or some other sort of lesion. Follow our experts' advice with this FAQ on the challenges of lesion removal coding in the ED. Keep this advice close, and you'll have all the guidance you need whenever the physician removes a lesion. 1. Where do I start? Coders need several pieces of information before they can choose a proper lesion excision code. Step one is finding out the anatomical area of the lesion. For coding purposes, CPT breaks lesion removals into the following categories, says Yvonne P. Mayer, [...]