Wiki Removal of infected mesh, Can this be coded seperate?

[mguevarra]

Example: A patient has a ventral hernia repair with mesh on 5/17/07.
He comes back for removal of an infected mesh and reaplication of a new mesh on 9-19-07. Our doctors feel the removal of mesh should be seperately coded because it adds hours to the procedure, and at the same time they say they are not repairing a recurrent hernia because it has since healed.
Any suggestions on coding the removal of infected mesh and application of new mesh?

 

[TiffanyNH]

Hello, I don't have my cpt book with me but I am very sure that you can code that seperately. You should be able to code for the removal and reaplication and the time that it took because it prolonged the procedure they performed. Have you checked the cpt book in the guidelines to see what they allow when it comes to multiple procedures on the same day? Let me know what you end up coding it as, I would be very interested in knowing how you proceed.

 

[mguevarra]

for the removal of the infected mesh, I came across 11005 and 11008 which do fit. But it seems there should be a better code and using these would feel like I was settling.