Wiki Cyst Excision

[salorn88@aol.com]

Hi guys,

Patient comes in to have a cyst removed. The physician performs an I&D and then removes the sac. I have 2 docs who want to bill this as an excision, claiming that the sac sits inside the dermis, so they are technically performing a full thickness excision. I have another doc who says this is incorrect, because you are not actually removing any dermis or fat to be included on the pathology that should be billed as I&D only. How are other practices billing this?

Thanks,

 

[kvangoor]

I would bill the excision. When I read the guidelines for the excision codes it does not say you need to remove any surrounding fat or dermis in order to use these codes. You are still removing the cyst (weather its a drained sac or full).