ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: I am a little uncomfortable choosing a code when the physician provides burn treatment. Could you explain the difference between superficial and partial-thickness burn treatment?

Answer: Use this guidance as a baseline for deciding whether your physician provided superficial or partial-thickness burn treatment:

Superficial: This is a first-degree burn, which you'd code with 1600 (Initial treatment, first degree burn, when no more than local treatment is required) regardless of body area. When your physician performs superficial burn treatment, she might:

• Perform minimal cleaning of the burn with soap
• Rinse the burn with saline
• Apply a topical antimicrobial agent, such as Silvadene,Neosporin or Polysporin.

Partial-thickness: This is typically a second-degree burn, which you'll report with one of the following codes:

• 16020 (Dressings and/or debridement of partial-thickness burns, initial or subsequent; small [less than 5% total body surface area])
• 16025 (... medium [e.g., whole face or whole extremity, or 5% to 10% total body surface area])

During a partial-thickness burn treatment, the physician might:

• Apply gauze to the burn
• Apply synthetic dressing (e.g., Tegaderm, Vigilon, DuoDerm, Biobrane, Omniderm, Sildimac) to the burn
• Perform debridement of any blisters associated with the burn.