Outpatient Facility Coding Alert

Question: One of the wound clinic physicians treated a patient with traumatic wounds. The patient has intellectual disabilities and is known to pick his wounds and remove dressings against medical advice. The physician used Dermabond to hold the patient’s skin in place until the next week’s treatment. How should we bill this encounter?

Mississippi Subscriber

Answer:  In a hospital-based clinic, you can bill the Dermabond as a supply and the visit as an E/M according to the facility’s leveling criteria. This would be essentially be a dressing change with a liquid adhesive dressing.