squeaker7
Contributor
Can someone please help me with this! This has come up a few times now and we are not sure what to code, we've received conflicting answers from our resources. Documentation reads:
First and second degree burns left upper extremity, especially his hand and forearm. Areas were excisionally debrided, dressing applied with Aquacel Silver. Culture was obtained by swab. Wound debrided with scalpel, down through Subcutaneous tissue; tissue removed includes slough, abnormal edge, fibrin, exudate, biofilm and subcutaneous tissue. There was minimal bleeding, controlled by pressure. Total area debrided was 70sqcm.
Our issue is when reading the description for the debridement codes for burns, 16000-16030, they only mention debridement of patial-thickness wounds. What if it does go down to subcutaneous?
We've had one person tell us to stick with the burn codes, 16020, and we've had another say that when it hits subQ to use 11042.
Please help!!
First and second degree burns left upper extremity, especially his hand and forearm. Areas were excisionally debrided, dressing applied with Aquacel Silver. Culture was obtained by swab. Wound debrided with scalpel, down through Subcutaneous tissue; tissue removed includes slough, abnormal edge, fibrin, exudate, biofilm and subcutaneous tissue. There was minimal bleeding, controlled by pressure. Total area debrided was 70sqcm.
Our issue is when reading the description for the debridement codes for burns, 16000-16030, they only mention debridement of patial-thickness wounds. What if it does go down to subcutaneous?
We've had one person tell us to stick with the burn codes, 16020, and we've had another say that when it hits subQ to use 11042.
Please help!!