Wiki Shoulder scope help!!

[Katie_Ellis]

Hello,

I have a doctor that does a lot of shoulder scopes. He generally does a subacromial decompression with most of the procedures. My question is would I bill the 29826 or 29823 if other debridement was performed along with the subacromial decompression and parent code i.e 29827 or 29824 or both? We generally perform a bursectomy as well. This particular one had distal clavicle resection, subacromial decompression, bursectomy and debridement of labral tearing.

Thank you in advance,
Katherine Ellis C.P.C.

 

[Orthocoderpgu]

First of all, 29826 requires an acromioplasty. No acromioplasty, no 29826 (read description of code). If debridement is done in preparation for a procedure such as rotator cuff, tenodesis, that debridement is not counted towards 29822 & 29823. You will need to read the op note carefully and count only the debridement that is not related to a procedure and count that towards 29822 & 29823. 29822 is always bundled by the way. Per a recent article in AAPC Magazine, you need three areas of debridement in the shoulder to report 29823.

 

[Katie_Ellis]

Thank you!!