Primary Care Coding Alert

If you don't make sure that your malignant lesion removal codes correspond with the right body area, you'll end up with the wrong code.
 
That's what happened in Family Practice Coding Alert's April 2004 article, "Real-World Coding: You Decide the Lesion Procedure." The full thickness removal example listed a code from the scalp, neck, hands, feet and genitalia section instead of the correct code from the trunk, arms or legs group.

In procedure two, a family physician (FP) removes a 3-mm full thickness lesion from a patient's right medial shoulder. The article stated, "You should report 11400 for a benign lesion excision or 11620 for a malignant lesion excision." Instead, you should assign 11400 (Excision, benign lesion including margins, except skin tag [unless listed elsewhere], trunk, arms or legs; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less) or 11600 (Excision, malignant lesion including margins, trunk, arms, or legs; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less), not 11620 (Excision, malignant lesion including margins, scalp, neck, hands, feet, genitalia; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less). The FP removes the lesion from the patient's shoulder (11600 for a malignant pathology report), not from the patient's scalp, neck, hands, feet or genitalia (11620).