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Wiki Fracture/laceration

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Anon

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Hello all, I have a couple of questions.

Pt comes in with laceration of a finger; after an x-ray it's determined he has an open fracture. I know the Injury and Poisoning guidelines state not to code superficial injuries when associated with more severe injuries of the same site, but the physician closed the laceration, so I would think I should code it. Is this correct?

The laceration was closed with dermabond. Pt then left to go to court, but came back (same day) after court, and the same physician sutured the laceration. It was a 1.5cm laceration. Do I code 12001 only once?

Thanks in advance.
 
Didn't he treat the fracture?

I would only code the laceration repair ONCE.

However ...

Didn't he treat the fracture? An open fracture would have the bone sticking through the skin! That's not something you would just Dermabond together.

For an accurate response to surgical coding questions, please post the scrubbed operative / procedure note.


Hope that helps.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC
 
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