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Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

Mythbuster:

Sort Out These Suture Removal Facts Against 3 Misconceptions

Published on Sun Jun 20, 2010

Formula: Removal with anesthesia = 15850 or 15851The bad news: suture removal is usually bundled into the global, so forget about earning that extra revenue by billing it separately. The good news: you can take advantage of basic coding options available that will improve documentation and save you out of compromising situations.Learn the tricks of the trade by resolving these 3 myths.Myth 1: 99024 Is a "Trophy" CodeReality: You think that just because 99024 (Postoperative follow-up visit, normally included in the surgical package, to indicate that an evaluation and management service was performed during a postoperative period for a reason[s] related to the original procedure) has zero charge, it has no better function. But the truth is, you can use it as a valid code for indicating suture removal.Example: A patient underwent a laceration repair eight days ago for a 5-cm cut on her foot. You would use 12042 (Layer [...]
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