Procedure Question

Question:

Steven Johnson syndrome. We see a lot of this. For these, we generally provide some sedation at bedside and use a norsen blade (basically a sharp straight edge) to debride off all the epidermal blistering and expose the dermis. We use CPT 97597 and 97598. Is this accurate?

Answer:

Yes, debridement of the epidermis and/or dermis is reported using 97597 and +97598.

You may separately report a code(s) for moderate sedation services (99152/+99153 for patients 5 years or older) if you are the physician supervising an independent trained observer (e.g., registered nurse). This is also true for any other CPT code where moderate sedation is provided under your supervision by an independent trained observer. The drug name, dosage, route, amount of time, etc. must be documented to support the moderate sedation service codes.