Pediatric Coding Alert
Ensure Incision to Report 10120
Question: Our pediatrician removed a pencil tip from a patient’s finger and circled 10120 (Incision and removal of foreign body, subcutaneous tissues; simple) on the superbill. However, that descriptor has the word “incision” in it, and our pediatrician did not make one since she removed the pencil tip with tweezers. I’m inclined to report just the E/M code for this service. Can you advise?
Answer: If your pediatrician simply grabbed the tip of the pencil with the tweezers and pulled out the pencil tip, you cannot report 10120 and you must instead revert to the E/M code. If the pediatrician were to enter the subcutaneous tissue via an incision, then you would be able to bill 10120 for this service.
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