Question: Would you please explain adding excision sizes together? If the physician excises a lesion (malignant or not), should I add the sizes together? Answer: You should never add lesion excisions together. You should code excisions (11400-11646) according to the specific site, times the number of excisions the physician performed. For example, you would report 11400 (Excision, benign lesion including margins, except skin tag [unless listed elsewhere], trunk, arms or legs; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less) on the CMS-1500 if the physician removed four lesions.
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You may be thinking of repairs, in which case you should add the total of the lengths of the wounds or lacerations repaired together in each type of repair category - simple, intermediate and complex (12001-13160) - according to the body area and location of the wounds or lacerations.