Wiki Meniscus Rasping

[pwebbabshire@cox.net]

I am coming upon more procedures for Meniscus rasping. Is anyone coding rasping? There is no formal code for rasping. You run into bundling issues if you use 29877. So for my reports, I have a lateral tear& the Dr. is performing a meniscectomy for that lateral tear. Then the patient has a medial tear, same knee and the Dr. performs rasping for the medial tear. I have not been coding the rasping, just the meniscectomy. Any thoughts or documentation that would support coding rasping would be great.
Thank you,
Pamela

 

[Orthocoderpgu]

I just had one of these. I ended up going with unlisted. Keep in mind that 29877 bundles with 29881. So basically if the physician is working on the meniscus I would not bill 29877 with it. Rasping is performed for the same reason as trephination.

 

[pwebbabshire@cox.net]

Yes, I never code 29877 on the same knee as a meniscectomy. I really do not use unlisted codes very much, unless it is a last resort. I will just not code it going forward if done on the same knee. I just wish if this is going to become more and more common that they would either come out with a code for that or give us more information on the rules for rasping. Thank you for your answer that helped me decide what to do going forward.