Outpatient Facility Coding Alert

Question:  The dermatologist documented, “Dermatology treatment rendered in the form of debridement with #11 blade” for a patient presenting with a plantar wart. He did not use cryotherapy. Is there a CPT® code to describe the procedure?

Georgia Subscriber

Answer:  The procedure appears to fall under code 17110 (Destruction [e.g., laser surgery, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, chemosurgery, surgical curettement], of benign lesions other than skin tags or cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions; up to 14 lesions). Notice that the descriptor includes surgical curettement, which is what your physician probably completed during debridement. 

Pay attention: Code 17110 includes removal of up to 14 warts or other benign lesions. If the physician removes more than 14 lesions, you would report 17111 (… 15 or more lesions) instead. If you have any questions regarding whether the physician destroyed the wart versus completing another procedure such as shaving (codes 11300-11313, Shaving of epidermal or dermal lesion, single lesion …), don’t hesitate to ask for clarification.