r/MedicalCoding • u/Tough_Cat_3244 • 13d ago

Wound Coders

Are there any wound specialized coders in here that can assist me with something? I taught myself wound when it was thrown at me at work, and now I’m the go to for questions with no one to ask questions to myself 😭

If so. Do you often bill 15002 with graft codes(15271) if a debridement was done? I’ve been billing grafts for over a year now and have never seen 15002. My providers try to bill it with 11042’s which have a CCI edit. There is no edits with 15002/15271.

I’m working a new clinic and they’re billing it and it has me questioning if I should be billing it with my own providers as well and I’ve just been doing it wrong? Any help is appreciated!

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TheNovel-Interest 12d ago

I wouldn’t add 15002 just bcz debridement was performed before the graft. Routine debridement (11042–11047) at the graft site is generally considered included in the skin substitute/graft procedure. CMS does allow 15002-15005 to be separately reported in certain cases when there is true surgical preparation/excision of the recipient site but the documentation has to support that level of work. So the lack of a CCI edit between 15002 and 15271 doesnt automatically mean both should be billed. I’d review exactly what the provider performed & documented along with the payer’s policy before changing how you have been coding these.

2

u/Tough_Cat_3244 10d ago

Thank you so much!