Wiki Cpt 17286

[jv0081]

My dermatologist is billing a 17286 and 88305, I'm not sure this is correct.

Here is scenario:

a patient is diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma. The provider is telling me he first did a Transversed/Shaved (not using a curette instrument) to debunked the lesion then use heat or sometimes crypo to destroyed the rest of the tissue underneath and around the cancer. Would this be considered a destruction? If yes, then can we billed for a pathology too?

My thinking is we should billed this as a shaved or excision with no closure (since none was done).

Any advices would be great.

 

[CodingKing]

It wouldn't be excision which requires removal full thickness including margins. Usually if not always requires closure.

Electro, cryo, laser ETC are methods that fall under destruction. Says with or without curettement. I'm thinking destruction He did cut the top layer of but only so he could destroy what was underneath with the secondary method. Yes he can send the specimen off to a pathologist for review. Pathologist would bill the 883XX code

Both shave and destruction don't usually require closure.

 

[pamsbill]

An 88305 is for a pathologist to bill. It should not be billed by the physician who removes the tissue, at least not in any scenarios I have encountered. If you are sending the tissue off to a lab, it is the pathology lab physician who will look at it and bill an 88305 and whatever other pathology codes are appropriate.