Primary Care Coding Alert

Guess what you need to add to total removal area before coding? Lesion excision codes delve into the tenths of centimeters for measurements, but coders that aren't willing to dive down for details could be leaving deserved reimbursement submerged in the encounter notes. In $hort: The family physician (FP) excises a benign lesion from a patient's scalp; total removal area is 1.1 cm. You add wrong, however, and only code for 0.5 cm of total removal area. Undercoding just cost your practice about $50 on this claim. Malignancy Question Drives Choices Choose from the following code sets when your FP performs lesion removal, confirms John F. Bishop, PA-C, CPC, CGSC, CPRC, president of Bishop & Associates, Inc. in Tampa: • 11400 (Excision, benign lesion including margins, except skin tag [unless listed elsewhere], trunk, arms or legs; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less) through11446 (Excision, other benign lesion including margins, except [...]