Wiki wound care-dehiscence

[adriana.ayers@stjude.org]

First time poster and newbie. I am new to wound care and have a question regarding the use of a wound vac on an incision that has opened back up and remained as an open wound. From everything I have read a wound vac cannot be coded on a closed incision, which is what this started out as and only a section has opened. The wound vac is placed over the entire incision along with cellular tissue. My question..is either or both of these to be coded or are they global and considered a dressing change?

I hope I am making sense because I feel so jumbled and lost. Thank you for any responses!

 

[adunlap23]

First time poster and newbie. I am new to wound care and have a question regarding the use of a wound vac on an incision that has opened back up and remained as an open wound. From everything I have read a wound vac cannot be coded on a closed incision, which is what this started out as and only a section has opened. The wound vac is placed over the entire incision along with cellular tissue. My question..is either or both of these to be coded or are they global and considered a dressing change?

I hope I am making sense because I feel so jumbled and lost. Thank you for any responses!

I would think the wound vac is reportable in this case because the provider is treating a new problem (wound dehiscence). This, of course, depends on if there were other procedures performed at this time. You might also want to look into modifier -78 if this is in the global period of the initial surgery.