mindyanna
Networker
Good Morning my fellow coders. I have a physician who constantly is removing an infected total knee and putting in an antibiotic coated rod from the tip of the femur to the bottom of the tibia. She is calling this a knee fusion but I think it's just a static spacer until the infection is gone. She was told that she could bill the fusion if it were a permanent fusion so of course she documents that it's permanent. 6 months later she is removing this "permanent fusion" and replacing it with another total knee. I was under the impression that permanent means it doesn't come out. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think she should be allowed to bill out a 27580 instead of using the 27310? Anyone have any documentation I can look at that states the types of spacers used from a credible source?
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance