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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Part B Coding Coach:

Get Your Cut for Soft Tissue FBRs by Looking for Incision Evidence

Published on Sun May 09, 2010

Complicated FBRs, though rare, pay twice as much as simple ones. Ah, spring. The birds, the bees -- and more soft-tissue foreign body removals (FBRs) for EDs. Remember, the physician removing a foreign body does not necessarily mean you can report an FBR code. Be ready for the splinters, ticks, and other FBs that your ED physician might see with this advice on soft-tissue FBRs. Cut to the Quick on FBR-E/M Decision The rule on soft-tissue FBRs is cut and dried: If the provider does not make an incision during the service, then you cannot code 10120 (Incision and removal of foreign body, subcutaneous  tissues; simple), confirms Gerri Walk, RHIA, CCS-P, senior manager at Health Record Services Corporation in Baltimore. Example: A guy walks into the ED with a splinter in his left ring finger. A nonphysician practitioner (NPP)examines the injured area, pulls the splinter out with tweezers, bandages the patient's [...]
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