Do you know what a greenstick fracture is? Fractured bones are an orthopedic practice’s bread and butter. Knowledge of terms and anatomy of fractures is a given for any successful orthopedic coder. But what happens when you have gaps in your basic fracture knowledge? Simple mistakes can sometimes turn into expensive ones, if you face a denial because you forgot one of the tenets of fracture care. Don’t worry: During her HEALTHCON 2024 presentation “Current Orthopedic Coding Issues,” Karen F. Perry, CPC, CPB, CPC-I, OCS, ran through the basics on fracture care that every coder should know. Check out what she had to say.
Check Out These Top Coding Errors Perry, who has nearly 20 years’ experience as a medical coder, ran down the top five reasons for coding errors in orthopedic practices; all of them can be applied to fracture care. The errors that cause denials are: Know Open/Closed Definitions A fracture is a partial or complete break in the bone. It is classified as either open or closed. An open fracture, also known as a compound fracture, occurs when the bone pokes through the skin and can be seen, or when a deep wound exposes the bone through the skin. A closed fracture, also known as a simple fracture, occurs when the bone is broken but the skin is intact. Open vs. closed Tx: Coders also don’t want to confuse open and closed fractures, as described above, and open and closed fracture treatment. Open fracture treatment occurs when the surgeon makes an excision to expose the fracture for repair; Per CPT®, open treatment is also when the fracture is treated using an intramuscular (IM) implant placed via incision that is remote from the fracture site (with or without direct visualization of the fracture). Closed treatment occurs when the surgeon fixes the fracture without making any incisions. Keep Up With Fracture Types “Fractures have a variety of names,” explained Perry, and orthopedic coders will need to know all of them to code correctly. Some of the most common are: Learn Different Fracture Treatments When a patient has a fracture, surgery isn’t a given. There are other treatments that could fix the fracture; the orthopedist could use one, or a combination, of these methods to treat the patient: Recognize Most Common Fracture Presentations There are fractures that are going to occur more often than others; sometimes it’s due to bone strength, sometimes it’s tied to patient activity levels, and sometimes patients are engaged in activities that commonly cause fractures (athletics, manual labor, etc.). Some of the more common fractures you might see in your practice include: clavicle, wrist, hip, spine, humerus, rib, and ankle. Make sure you are up to speed on anatomy and coding for these fractures, because you’re wont to see a lot of them. Fracture Modifiers You’ll also want to keep up with the modifiers that are most likely to accompany your fracture care claim. Perry listed the following as the most common modifiers used on fracture care codes: Chris Boucher, MS, CPC, Senior Development Editor, AAPC