Dermatology Coding Alert

Published on Thu Aug 18, 2005 PDF

Question: What should I report for freezing of skin tags? At first I considered the destruction code, but my desk reference says that is only cutting or electrodessication, and doesn't list cryosurgery for skin tags.

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Answer: Report code 11200 (Removal of skin tags, multiple fibrocutaneous tags, any area; up to and including 15 lesions) for the removal of up to 15 skin tags (fibrocutaneous tags). If the dermatologist removes more than 15 tags, report +11201 (... each additional 10 lesions [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]), in addition to 11200, for each additional 10 tags or fewer. Although your desk reference may say otherwise, note that the actual description of the code does not specify a certain method of removal.
 
Example: If the dermatologist removes 23 skin tags, report 11200 for the first 15 tags and 11201 for the last eight. If he removes 33 skin tags, report 11200 for the first 15, and 11201 x 2 -- once for tags 16-25, and once for tags 26-33.