Primary Care Coding Alert

Restricting 10120 to scalpel incisions could be costing your practice $80. While you should never code soft-tissue foreign body removal (FBR) when the service does not warrant it, be on the lookout for potential 10120 claims -- even when the FP uses a less conventional instrument to perform the FBR -- which can net your practice approximately $120 in pay. Be careful, though: Some FBRs are actually only E/M services. Check out these useful tips on telling them apart. Spot Incision to Triple 99212 Pay Incisions are what separate procedural FBRs from FBRs that occur during an E/M service, confirms Linda Martien, CPC, CPC-H, coding specialist at National Healing Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla. Example: The FP is treating a 6-year-old established patient who has a splinter lodged under the skin in his left forearm. He uses a scalpel to make a simple incision over the FB, and pulls the splinter out [...]