Wiki another plantar wart question

[Lisa Bledsoe]

So, the podiatrist in my office has been treating a patient for a plantar wart since October on a monthly basis with debridement and freezing. He came in last month and wanted it "cut out". She documented: "A scalpel was used in usual fashion to remove a full thickness 0.5cm eliptical excision on the foot. The area was prepped and the lesion was removed with hyphercation". (that's exactly what it says...straight out of our lovely EMR). Now, how should this be coded? She wants to code 28045. I thought 17110 but have looked at a couple of other options such as 11420 (could be the most likely prospect) or 28043 (I think this one is a little overboard). Podiatry is not my strong point...can someone please help?

 

[cgallimore]

I think you should use a code from the Integumentary section-11420-11426 code range depending on size. The plantar's wart is on the skin, not a soft tissue below the skin lesion/tumor. There is no indication that there was any dissection/excision into the subcutaneous, fascial or intramuscular tissue, so the integumentary codes fit.