Orthopedic Coding Alert

Question: My physician opened and prepared a graft site but then switched to synthetic bone graft material because the donor area did not look healthy. How should I code this, because he didnt actually harvest the graft?

Virginia Subscriber
 
Answer: Most repairs of fracture nonunion or arthrodesis procedures that require grafting have the phrase includes obtaining graft in the code definition. If the primary procedure does not normally include a bone graft as part of the global service, report the graft harvesting using 20900 (bone graft, any donor area; minor or small [e.g., dowel or button]) or 20902 (... major or large) and append modifier -52 (reduced services). Some coders may use modifier -53 (discontinued procedure), but this is  reserved for when the patients well-being would be threatened by continuing the procedure.