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Question: A patient presented to the podiatrist with a painful ingrown toenail on the right foot. The podiatrist performed partial nail avulsion under local anesthesia. The patient was advised to soak the foot in warm water and keep it clean.

How do we report the encounter?

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Answer: Assign 11730 (Avulsion of nail plate, partial or complete, simple; single) to report the partial nail avulsion. To locate this code, look for Avulsion in the CPT^® Index, where you’ll find Nail Plate and then Simple Single. You’ll use 11730 for a single-nail avulsion or for the first nail if multiple nails were treated.

Each additional nail avulsion is reported with add-on code +11732 (… each additional nail plate (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure)). Use multiple entries of +11732 for each additional nail.

Next, you’ll use L60.0 (Ingrowing nail) to report the patient’s ingrown toenail. An ingrown nail occurs when the nail’s edge pierces the skin around it instead of growing outward. This condition often causes pain and inflammation.

Mike Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Production Editor, AAPC