Wiki Rib Fixation

[jdibble]

My Doctor did an external rib fixation on 2 ribs. Code is 21810 however it does not specify if this is for one and/or more ribs or for each rib. Does anyone know how you would code this? Would the code cover the repair of both ribs or do we bill the code twice with a 59 modifier for the second rib?

Thanks,

 

[wandaleevazquez]

Rib fixation

I was thinking that you may only use this code once. Usually there are 2 or more broken ribs involved (2 adjacent ribs broken in at least two places) when there is a flail chest. If you refer to the CPPT book and reference codes 21800 and 21805(right above 21810), they actually specify that these codes can be billed for each rib fracture. i think that 21810 does state this because payment for multiple ribs is included in this one code.

I hope this helps.

 

[wandaleevazquez]

Rib fixation

I was thinking that you may only use this code once. Usually there are 2 or more broken ribs involved (2 adjacent ribs broken in at least two places) when there is a flail chest. If you refer to the CPT book and reference codes 21800 and 21805(right above 21810), they actually specify that these codes can be billed for each rib fracture. i think that 21810 does state this because payment for multiple ribs is included in this one code.

I hope this helps.

 

[jdibble]

Thanks Wanda. That does make sense now. Not really knowing what a Flail Chest was, the code description was not clear. Knowing that this includes more than one rib makes more sense now!

Thanks,