Orthopedic Coding Alert

Question: Our surgeon documented an excision for thickening of the Achilles tendon and dictated a diagnosis of calcific Achilles tendonitis. Which CPT and ICD-9 codes should we report?

South Carolina Subscriber

Answer: You should report 727.82 (Calcium deposits in tendon and bursa) as the diagnosis code for this procedure, because the surgeon referred to a calcific tendon.

The calcification qualifies as a lesion, so the correct CPT code is 27630 (Excision of lesion of tendon sheath or capsule [e.g., cyst or ganglion], leg and/or ankle]).

--  Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were reviewed by Heidi Stout, CPC, CCS-P, director of orthopedic coding services at The Coding Network LLC; and Bill Mallon, MD, orthopedic surgeon and medical director at Triangle Orthopaedic Associates in Durham, N.C.