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Orthopedic Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

How Should We Code Knee Replacement Change?

Published on Sat Oct 09, 2004

Question: Our surgeon performed a unicondylar knee replacement several years ago, but it failed and the patient required a total knee replacement (TKR) last month. The orthopedist removed the unicondylar and replaced it with the TKR. Which code should we report?

Massachusetts Subscriber

Answer: You should report 27487 (Revision of total knee arthroplasty, with or without allograft; femoral and entire tibial component).

You should only bill this code if the surgeon replaces the entire femoral and tibula components. If he replaces one component only, you should instead report 27486 (... one component).
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