Procedure Question

Question:

Often, we will take a burn patient to the OR with large sloughing skin and debride and apply allograft. Does this qualify as 1500X with 1527X or is this a 160XX burn debridement code with the skin sub codes?

Answer:

We expect to see documentation that the burn “excised,” not “debrided,” when allograft is applied. In the scenario where burn excision with allograft placement occur, the 1500x (excision) and 1527x (allograft) codes are used.

The 160xx codes are used for dressing changes and/or “debridement.”