General Surgery Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Dressing Change

Published on Thu Feb 01, 2001

Question: A patient was referred to us with dead skin on his leg caused by an accident with a chainsaw. The doctor did not perform surgery, but the patient is coming in daily for a dressing change. Do we bill for an office visit, or is there a specific code for the dressing change?

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Test your coding knowledge. Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer.

Answer: According to HCPCS, surgical dressings applied by a physician are included as part of the professional service, says Tammy Chidester, CPC, billing supervisor with Upshur Medical Management Services, a multispecialty coding and billing service in Buckannon, W.Va. Therefore, they would not be coded separately, but would be bundled into the service. Only the appropriate level evaluation and management code for the office visit should be billed.

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