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Our patient came in with a wart under the fingernail. The doctor had to remove the nail to treat the wart. I don't think that we code the nail removal, but can't find any guidelines for this situation. Can anyone help with this?
In considering how to code this, would it be appropriate to code it as a prolonged service? Basically the provider had to expend greater time and effort to affect the wart removal. If that is the case, prolonged service codes mght be appropriate?
If the procedure performed is nail removal for any cause whatsoever - code nail removal. If it is more than what it takes in a normal scenario, append modifier 22.