Base Your Lesion Shaving Codes on Pre-Procedure Measurements
Question: A podiatrist shaved an epidermal lesion measuring 1.2 cm from a patient’s left foot. What code should I use for the procedure, and can you explain what a shaving procedure is for removing lesions? New Hampshire Subscriber Answer: Assign 11307 (Shaving of epidermal or dermal lesion, single lesion, scalp, neck, hands, feet, genitalia; lesion diameter 1.1 to 2.0 cm) to report the removal of the epidermal lesion from the patient’s foot. A shaving procedure is one where the provider makes a transverse incision or uses horizontal slicing to remove lesions from the epidermis or dermis. The physician performs this procedure without making a full-thickness dermal excision. “A shave removal can be performed to treat benign, premalignant, and superficial malignant lesions,” according to CPT® Assistant, Volume 35, Issue 3. Your code assignment for the lesion removal is based on the location of the lesion and its documented pre-procedure size. If the provider removes multiple lesions via the shave technique during the same encounter, you’ll report each lesion removal separately with “the appropriate National Correct Coding Initiative Procedure-to-Procedure (NCCI PTP) modifier, depending on payer requirements,” according to CPT® Assistant. Mike Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Production Editor, AAPC
