Burn Treatment:
16035: Use 5 Tips to Give Your Escharotomy Coding the Third Degree
Published on Tue Aug 16, 2011
Don't double up on wound care.When your general surgeon treats serious burns, you'll need to know how to deploy CPT 16035 (Escharotomy; initial incision) and +16036 (... each additional incision [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) as your best coding tools. Learn the clinical conditions that warrant reporting 16035-+16036 and additional codes with the following expert tips.Tip 1: Zero in on KeywordsIf you see the terms "escharotomy," "faciotomy," or simply "incision" in the surgical report for treatment of a patient with third-degree burns, you're dealing with 16035-+16036. "Eschar is typically a full thickness injury where the burned skin becomes leathery and delineates from viable tissue underneath," says M. Tray Dunaway, MD, FACS, CSP, a surgeon, author, speaker, and coding educator with Healthcare Value Inc. in Camden, S.C. An escharotomy involves the physician creating surgical incision(s) through the burned area. The procedure releases pressure from swollen tissue that [...]
