Wiki diabetic ulcers

[Colliemom]

I work in GI, so I cannot assist a friend with this question. So I thought I would post this here, to see if any of you can help.

For patients with diabetic ulcers, what would some of the treatment options be? We know the ICD-9 codes for diabetic ulcers of the lower extremities, but I am unsure of what the physicians do to treat the diabetic ulers so I cannot provide him with any of the procedure codes. Do they do debridement on these ulcers? Or is it just cleaning and dressing changes? If anyone can provide the common CPT codes they bill for treatment of diabetic ulcers, we would really appreciate it.

thanks

 

[mitchellde]

It is really dependent on the procedure note and can range from a simple debridement to more complex with skin grafts to amputation. All they need is a CPT book and a procedure note. A coders Desk reference for procedures is extremely helpful as well. I do not like to give a list of codes as you may leave one out. Just look in the book they are all right there.

 

[Colliemom]

thanks. I wasn't sure what the treatment options were for diabetic ulcers. My friend is working as a consultant on a project, for a company that is producing a gel to help/aid in the healing of diabetic ulcers. I told him I thought the CPT codes they would mainly be dealing with would be office visits/hospital visits/skilled nuring home visits. He asked what other CPT codes would be used in the treatment of diabetic ulcers and I wasn't sure what to tell him. So I will tell him there are just too many treatments to list. (skin grafts, debridements, amputations, etc)

 

[staylor64]

wound care

We have wound care clinic they are seen weekly or every other week

Active wound care management on page 510 to 511 has some good codes

97597 wound care debridement
97598 add on code for wound care

look for site, size treatment for correct coding

There are other codes for surgical treatments cutting paring that she will need to look into

good luck to you friend