Watch for the new compression codes and manipulation. Certain CPT® 2012 codes that dodged the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edit pairs in January are all bundled up as of April 1, 2012. One such edit is for the reporting of certain vascular injections and blood vessel repair. You will need to be watchful when reporting these. You will frequently encounter vessel repairs when your surgeon is treating crush injury, deeper wounds, and some cases of open fracture. CCI version 18.1 reveals a fairly light update, with 358 new edit pairs and 23 terminated pairs. For new pairs, surgery dominated with over 90 percent of both column 1 and column 2 codes, said Frank D. Cohen, MPA, MBB, senior analyst with The Frank Cohen Group, LLC, in his analysis of the changes. Avoid 36251 with 35231 and Beyond CCI 18.1 adds nearly 50 edit pairs with the following blood vessel repair codes in the column 2 position: Resources: Mix Compression With Manipulation CPT® 2012 added three new multi-layer compression system codes, and all three (below) are now bundled with 97140 (Manual therapy techniques [e.g., mobilization/manipulation, manual lymphatic drainage, manual traction], 1 or more regions, each 15 minutes): Review your group's use of these code pairs to see if you need to revise your reporting policy, says Todd Thomas, CPC, CCS-P, President of ERcoder, Inc. in Edmond, Okla. Look for Streamlined Edit Groupings There's a twist in the way this latest round of edits is organized that could make things easier for you. That was then: This is now: Caution: "The CCI edit process is performed quarterly. Professional medical associations have been given the opportunity to review and comment of these edits," says Gregory Przybylski, MD, director of neurosurgery, New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, JFK Medical Center, Edison. The development of these edits is performed by a subcontractor to CMS.