follow up visit to surgeon status post knee replacement

[maddalynni]

An orthopedic surgeon doesn't like the codes I supplied to him regarding the first follow up visit status post right knee replacement for unilateral primary osteoarthritis of the right knee. I told his office to use Z09 and Z96.651, but he is insisting to still use M17.11 as the primary diagnosis. What is correct??

 

[mitchellde]

it will not be follow up as the first visit after the procedure. It also is not osteoarthritis anymore.. they left that in the OR with the old joint. It is however ortho aftercare following joint replacement Z47.1 then you code the z96.621 as the secondary code. The coding guidelines will also instruct that this is the correct way to code this encounter. The guidelines do state that you do not code a condition that the patient no longer has. This is a global encounter for the surgeon and no reimbursable.