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Orthopedic Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Carpal Scaphoid

Published on Tue Jan 01, 2002

Question: My surgeon is performing a 25628 (open treatment of carpal scaphoid [navicular] fracture; with or without internal or external fixation) and harvesting the bone graft from the wrist. Should I code for the graft separately?

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Answer: You can code for the graft separately, using 20900 (bone graft, any donor area; minor or small) or 20902 (... major or large) as long as the graft came from a distant site or separate incision.  

Answers to Reader Questions and You Be the Coder provided by Terry Fletcher, BS, CPC, CCS-P, CCS, a healthcare coding consultant based in Laguna Beach, Calif., and Heidi Stout, CPC,CCS-P, coding and reimbursement manager at University Orthopedic Associates in New Brunswick, N.J.
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