Dermatology Coding Alert
You be the coder:
Lesion destruction versus biopsy
Published on Tue Jul 28, 2009 
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Question: How should we bill for a biopsy when we submit it to a pathologist? Our dermatologist treats basal cell carcinoma with destruction, but also always performs a biopsy. Nevada Subscriber Answer: Biopsy and destruction are mutually exclusive, which means you cannot bill them together if they were completed during the same session. The destruction is the higher-level procedure, so only report it. Choose the appropriate code from 17260-17286 for destruction of malignant lesions (based on the lesion size and location).
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