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Orthopedic Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Coding for Microfracture

Published on Tue Aug 21, 2007

Question: How should I code a microfracture on the medial femoral condyle? The orthopedists also performed a medial meniscectomy and chondral debridement, and I-ve already listed 29881 and 29877 for those procedures. Arizona Subscriber

Answer: You are correct to report 29881 (Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; with meniscectomy [medial OR lateral, including any meniscal shaving]) for the medial meniscectomy, but there's a better choice than 29877 (- debridement/shaving of articular cartilage [chondroplasty]) for the chondral debridement that will solve your microfracture challenge. Instead of 29877, you should rely on 29879 (- abrasion arthroplasty [includes chondroplasty where necessary] or multiple drilling or microfracture) because this code represents both the chondral debridement -- or chondroplasty -- and microfracture
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