Wiki CPT coding assistance

[showlan]

My surgeon is trying to find the appropriate code for a recent procedure he performed. It is a rare procedure for our office. Patient with suspected although highly probable sarcoma was in for an incisional biopsy on her buttock. How would this be coded as it is incisional not excised or needle biopsied.

 

[dchenkin]

It strikes me your misinterpreting the term excision. There is a series of codes, 11600 - 11606, "Malignant lesion including margins, trunk, arms, or legs". The range of codes depends on the size of the lesion. Anyway per the "Lay Terms" in AAPC coder "After giving local anesthesia, a margin of healthy tissue is identified and a full?thickness incision is made through the skin. The whole lesion is excised including the margins."

As you can see excision is not separate and distinct from incision. Excision merely refers to the fact that tissue is being removed from body independent of the technique.

Also, the proper code would reflect if the incision was full thickness or merely sub q.

I hope this helps and if more experienced coders out there disagree please weigh in.

 

[CodingKing]

Its likely 11100 Biopsy of skin, subcutaneous tissue and/or mucous membrane (including simple closure), unless otherwise listed; single lesion

It doesn't matter if it was scraped or cut out a piece of the lesion, if he didn't excise the whole thing with margins, its a biopsy.