Physician documentation essential for accurate coding and billing of excision of skin lesions

Abstract

Clear and precise documentation is essential to accurately code and bill for excision of benign or malignant skin lesions. Detailed documentation is crucial for capturing the full allowable reimbursement when the procedure involves more than a simple closure. For each lesion, only one type of removal may be reported, whether it is destruction, debridement, paring, curettement, shaving or excision. If an initial attempt to remove a lesion by a less invasive procedure is immediately followed by a more invasive lesion removal, only the more complex, definitive procedure may be billed. According to the Current Procedure Terminology manual (CPT), an excision of a skin lesion is defined as "full-thickness (through the dermis) removal of a lesion, including margins, and includes simple (non-layered) closure when performed." Changes in recent years now allow code selection based on the greatest clinical diameter of the lesion plus the narrowest margin required for adequately excising the lesion, "based on the physician's judgment." According to CPT, the "measurement of lesion plus margin is made prior to excision".