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Wiki Nail avulsion with repair

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katiejeanne

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We had a patient present to our ER after smashing her finger in a metal press. From what I can tell, the nail was displaced from the base with but still attached by a few millimeters. Part of the nail bed was adhered to the nail. The physician avulsed the nail further in order to get to the 3 cm laceration underneath where she sutured. She then trimmed the nail then placed it back into the nail bed over the sutures. She specifically states that the "distal portion of the nail was further avulsed for treatment and repair".

My question is, can I code 12002 for the sutures as well as 11730 for the partial avulsion of the nail? If so what modifier would I use on the 2nd procedure? It seems she had to avulse it even more in order to suture underneath so they are related procedures and I didn't know if they could both be coded here...Any help on this would be appreciated!! Thanks!

Katie
 
Any ideas???? Can you code for partial avulsion of nail done by physician in order to place sutures underneath?? Thanks!
 
I would code only 11760 nail bed repair this code includes removing the damaged nail. To also code a laceration repair with this you will need to be very careful you have documented a separate repair and not part of the nail bed repair. Hope this helps some.
 
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