Wiki Billing For Lid Debridement?

[Vrdurden]

Can we bill separately for swabbing under the eyelid (lid debridement) for patients with blepharitis? Can we charge the patient as long as there is a consent and ABN in place?


Thanks.
Vicki Durden
Lake Eye Associates

 

[Cheezum51]

I'm not aware of a specific code for "lid debridement" as you describe what you're doing with a swabbing procedure. Most of the lid debris from blepharitis is at the lid margin and on the eyelashes. So, unless some of that debris breaks free and gets under the lid causing a foreign body sensation, any cleaning around the lid would basically be external.

For cleaning of the lids for blepharitis, I'd just bill a 92012 code along with the appropriate ICD 10 code for the blepharitis.

Tom Cheezum, O.D., CPC, COPC