Pediatric Coding Alert

Question: A 3-year-old child presented to our office with a history of falling off a chair and injuring his right wrist. After performing a physical, the pediatrician orders an x-ray, which shows a buckle fracture of the right wrist. The physician temporarily protects the injury with a forearm splint and refers the established patient to an orthopedic surgeon for restorative treatment. Can I code for the splinting?Answer: Because the pediatrician provides only the initial splinting without restorative treatment, you can code for the forearm splinting with 29125 (Application of short arm splint [forearm to hand]; static). If the pediatrician instead performed the definitive fracture care including the pre- and postoperative fracture care, the global fracture code (25600, Closed treatment of distal radial fracture [e.g., Colles or Smith type] or epiphyseal separation, includes closed treatment of fracture of ulnar styloid, when performed; without manipulation) would include the initial cast or splint.In [...]