Wiki Question on bunionectomy coding!!

[acwebb]

There is a podiatrist in our office that has a question I am having trouble answering..Im hoping someone can help!!

He wants to know if it would be better to bill a 28297 with a 28299 or 28292......or a separate consideration would be to code a 28740 with a 28299 or a 28299? I am new at podiatry and any coding advice is greatly appreciated thanks

Melissa

 

[Orthocoderpgu]

The answer depends on what procedures are performed.

28297 & 28292 hit an edit and would not be billed together. You could only bill 28297 30.25 RVU.

28299 is when a double osteotomy is performed. Usually a Chevron and Aikin procedure. The Arthrodesis (28740) does not hit an edit with 28299 28.93 RVU.

The second scenario would give your physician more RVU value. But the physician really needs to asses the patient's medical condition and perform only those procedures that are medically necessary. In podiatry, that may mean doing a tendon transfer or tenodesis on one patient and maybe the next patient the tendon transfer or other procedure may not be billed if the primary procedure restores the patient.

One of my docs recently did a bunionectomy, with other procedures, and at the end of the procedures the patient's heel (calcaneous) was still tight. So a tendon transfer was done to correct that.

If an additional procedure is performed, the medical documentation should be able to support it.