Dermatology Coding Alert
You Be the Coder:
Multiple Skin Tags
Published on Sun Nov 14, 2010 
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Question:
Answer:
You should report 11200 (Removal of skin tags, multiple fibrocutaneous tags, any area; up to and including 15 lesions) for the first 15 tags and then code two units of 11201 (... each additional ten lesions or part thereof [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) for the next 20 skin tags.Explanation:
The first code (11200) refers to the first 15 lesions. The next code (11201) refers to the next 10 skin tags which sums to 25 lesions. Finally, to cover the last five lesions for a total sum of 30 lesions, you should report 11201 a second time because even though there aren't 35 lesions, reporting 11201 a second time includes the last five. This is correct coding, but insurers usually consider removal of skin tags medically unnecessary.Other Articles in this issue of
Dermatology Coding Alert
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Timing is everything for coding accuracy.Waiting for the pathologist to measure an excised lesion could [...] - CPT 2011 Update:
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