Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert
Good News--Skin Grafts Section Of CPT Book Expands
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You'll have new codes for autografts
You used to employ codes 15100-15261 for autogenous skin grafts, but now you’ll use those codes for autologous skin grafts.
In CPT Codes 2006, the “Free Skin Grafts” section is renamed “Skin Replacement Surgery And Skin Substitutes,” and expanded from five to seven pages. New language clarifies that the new codes aren’t intended for simple graft application, either alone or stabilized with dressings. The surgeon should use fixation to anchor the graft.
The new codes include: epidermal autografts (15110-15116), dermal autografts (15130-15136), tissue-cultured epidermal autografts (15150-15157), acellular dermal replacements (15170-15176), allograft skin for temporary wound closure (15300-15321), acellular dermal allografts (15330-15336), tissue cultured allogenic skin substitute (15340-15366), xenograft skin for wound closure (15420-15421, and 15400-15401 are revised), and acellular xenograft implant (15430-15431).
Almost all of these new codes for special grafts divide into one code for grafts of 100 cm or less and an add-on code for each additional 100 cm. They include one of these pairs of codes for trunk, arms and legs--and another pair for face, scalp, eyelids, mouth, neck, ears, orbits, genitalia, hands, feet and/or multiple digits.
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