subject: Check out CPT 2011 codes affecting your orthopedic practice [print this page] Check out CPT 2011 codes affecting your orthopedic practice
Troubled by the lack of arthroscopic hip surgery codes that CPT offer? Well, CPT 2011 has three new codes that will change all that.
Read on and get a sneak peek into the potentially new codes that will have a say in your orthopedic practice's success.
Three new hip arthroscopy codes
This time, with effect from January 1, there are three hip arthroscopy codes which will be very good additions to CPT.
29914 -- Arthroscopy, hip, surgical; with femoroplasty (ie, treatment of cam lesion)
29915 -- Arthroscopy, hip, surgical; with acetabuloplasty (ie, treatment of pincer lesion)
29916 -- Arthroscopy, hip, surgical; with labral repair These new codes eliminate the use of 29999 in these circumstances. If you've billed femoroplasty, acetabuloplasty, or labral repair claims with open codes when the physician carried them out through a scope, then you've been billing these procedures incorrectly. What's more, if you have been reporting arthroscopic procedures 29861-29863 with modifier 22, you have been inaccurate. The new additions to CPT 2010 will help you stay away from these mistakes. Remember that these codes will be listed out-of-sequence in your CPT manual. However like most coders, hopefully you have adapted to the change in format by now. In addition to these hip arthroscopy codes, you will find that CPT has revised debridement codes to include the size of the area debrided, and will come up with three new codes to describe additional areas that the physician debrides. And to top it all, CPT will add three new observation codes to your E/M coding options. It is not clear how CPT will instruct you to bill the subsequent observation codes, but the CPT symposium being held in November should clarify this. Better still, you may sign up for an audio conference on orthopedic coding to stay tuned to all the changes.
