Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: Our surgeon treated a patient for simple laceration of the scalp. Our surgeon likes to use tissue adhesive instead of placing a suture for these cases like laceration repair. Can we use the laceration repair codes such as 12001 without the suture?

Texas Subscriber

Answer: To bill for tissue adhesives for laceration closure, you have two choices: 12001 (Simple repair of superficial wounds of scalp, neck, axillae, external genitalia, trunk and/or extremities [including hands and feet]; 2.5 cm or less) or G0168 (Wound closure utilizing tissue adhesive[s] only). You will need to check your payer preferences for these codes.

You can use repair codes from the CPT^® range 12001-13160 when your surgeon performs wound closure using sutures, staples, or tissue adhesives. So, it is not necessary that you will have to restrict usage of repair codes only when your clinician used a suture for laceration repair.

Medicare is different: Unless a payer, such as Medicare, is specific about using the HCPCS code, most payers will look for the CPT^® repair codes when your clinician performs laceration repair. For Medicare, you should stick to G0168.