Reader Questions:
Code Splinting Only In Certain Situations
Published on Thu Feb 10, 2011
Question: A 3-year-old child presented to our ED with a history of falling off a chair and injuring his right wrist. After performing a physical exam, the physician orders a forearm x-ray, which shows a buckle fracture of the right wrist. The physician temporarily protects the injury with a forearm splint and refers the patient to an orthopedic surgeon for restorative treatment. Can I code for the splinting?North Carolina SubscriberAnswer: Because the physician provides only the initial splinting without restorative treatment, you can code for the forearm splinting with 29125 (Application of short arm splint [forearm to hand]; static).If the physician instead performed the definitive fracture care, you might report 25600 (Closed treatment of distal radial fracture [e.g., Colles or Smith type] or epiphyseal separation, includes closed treatment of fracture of ulnar styloid, when performed; without manipulation) with modifier 54 (Surgical care only) appended to show that you are not [...]