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ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

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Burn Diagnosis Coding for Kids

Published on Sun Oct 14, 2012

Question: A parent brings a 9-year-old child into the ED with blistering burns to the left side of her body. After a level-four E/M, the ED physician treats the child for partial-thickness burns on her entire left arm and left leg. The child suffered no third-degree burns. How should we code this scenario?Tennessee SubscriberAnswer:  To better understand the coding of this encounter, we'll assign CPT® codes first and then delve into ICD-9 coding:CPT® codes: Your ED physician provided a separate E/M, then treated the patient's burns, meaning you can report a pair of CPT® codes. On the claim, report the following:99284 (Emergency department visit for the evaluation and management of a patient, which requires these 3 key components: a detailed history; a detailed examination; and medical decision making of moderate complexity) for the E/Mmodifier 25 (Significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management service by the same physician on the same day [...]
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