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Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

Case Study:

Check Your 28104 vs. 28171 for Heterotrophic Bone Resection Coding Skills

Published on Sun Mar 21, 2010

Avoid poor excision documentation leading to $355.79 loss. Don't let a lack of solid documentation for tumor removal lead you to the wrong code. Test your resection versus excision savvy with this operative report. Diagnosis: Heterotrophic bone due to Charcot foot deformity. Procedure: Resection of heterotrophic bone.A straight linear incision was made centering overthe retro bony protuberance. The incision was carried through the sub-q tissues. A soft tissue tunnel was created just inferior to the periosteal covering of the bone from the midfoot and plantar fat pad. The large palpable protuberance of bone was visualized and then resected using a combination of osteotome mallet and power sagittal saw. A separate bone was contoured with very sharp bony protuberance and rasped smooth. The incision was reapproximated with sutures. Question: Does the documentation support 28171 (Radical resection of tumor; tarsal [except talus or calcaneus]) or 28104 (Excision or curettage of bone cyst [...]
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