Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Use 11100/11101 for pathology specimens only

In case you're reporting biopsy codes CPT 11100 and CPT 11101 distinctly from excisions or additional biopsies, you're unknowingly going in the trap of denials and even a possible audit. In order to side-step these problems, you must use 11100/11101 when the surgeon gets a portion of a lesion for pathology only. Read the following article and know when you should use these biopsy skin add-on codes to ensure accurate claims.

Instructional notes make it clear that you must not report CPT 11100 (Biopsy of skin, subcutaneous tissue and/or mucous membrane [including simple closure], unless otherwise listed; single lesion) and +11101 (… each separate/additional lesion [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) along with excision or other biopsy codes,

Notes prior to the “Biopsy" portion of CPT say:

You should report CPT 11100 as well as CPT 11101 only when the physician gets hold of a specimen: For instance, the surgeon does away with a part of a patient's skin lesion (709.1, Vascular disorders of skin) and then sends the specimen to pathology. In that particular case, you would certainly use CPT 11100. You must then allocate add-on code 11101 in combination with 11100 when the surgeon conducts a biopsy of a second lesion. You may report one added unit of CPT 11101 for each additional biopsy the surgeon carries out.

Source URL :- http://www.supercoder.com/coding-newsletters/my-general-surgery-coding-alert/biopsy-and-excision-at-the-same-time-think-again-article

You can't report CPT 11100 and CPT 11101 when you bill for a different procedure, for instance an excision. For instance, assume that the surgeon get rid of a whole lesion and after that submits it to pathology, you must then use only 11400 (Excision, benign lesion including margins, except skin tag [unless listed elsewhere], trunk, arms or legs; excised diameter 0.5 cm or less). You are not supposed to use a biopsy code, as according to CPT, the biopsy is a component of 11400.

When the surgeon carries out a biopsy on a dissimilar site from the excision, you may separately assign CPT 11100 and CPT 11101. For instance, your surgeon does away with an all-inclusive benign lesion from a patient's arm, and also a part of a lesion on a patient's neck. As far as the arm lesion is concerned, use 11400, and as far as neck biopsy is concerned, report 11100-59 (Distinct procedural service). By means of appending modifier -59 to the second code, you specify that the biopsy took place at a distinct location from the lesion removal.

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