Wiki Inquiry... re: wounds debridement

[Coder_Rick]

Wound #5 LT AKA lateral wound, L1.7cm, w 0.5 cm, depth 0.5cm. Wound #6 LT AKA stump wound, L 4.0 w 4.2 d 0.5. Both wounds debrided to depth of 0.5 and 0.3 of skin and tissue, 0.5 respectively. Not too experienced in wound care, but more of these will be starting with the dr. Am I correct to use 11042 and 11045? CPT also says to use mod 59.

Help!

 

[Lujanwj]

See Debridement guidelines below. That should clarify everything. The biggest issue you are going to have is depths. Dr needs to dictate the tissue debrided such as subcu, muscle as you can't go off a measured depth(tissue thickness varies from person to person). If dr doesn't dictate the tissue debrided you will have to use the 97597 series.

Guidelines::
Wound debridements (11042-11047) are reported by depth of tissue that is removed and by surface area of the wound. These services may be reported for injuries, infections, wounds and chronic ulcers. When performing debridement of a single wound, report depth using the deepest level of tissue removed. In multiple wounds, sum the surface area of those wounds that are at the same depth, but do not combine sums from different depths. For example: When bone is debrided from a 4 sq cm heel ulcer and from a 10 sq cm ischial ulcer, report the work with a single code, 11044. When subcutaneous tissue is debrided from a 16 sq cm dehisced abdominal wound and a 10 sq cm thigh wound, report the work with 11042for the first 20 sq cm and 11045 for the second 6 sq cm. If all four wounds were debrided on the same day, use modifier 59 with 11042, 11045 and 11044.