Coding Tips: Don’t Let Hand Drainage Procedures Drain Your Reimbursement

Coding key: Identify which structures are being drained.

When your surgeon performs a drainage procedure on patient's hand, he may target different structures, as there are several points of collection of pus. You may need to report procedures like drainage of a finger abscess, tendon sheath, or palmar bursa. Read on for tips on identifying where in the hand your surgeon did the drainage and how you report it.

Look For Diagnosis of Swollen Finger Tip

Your surgeon may drain a swollen and painful fingertip. This may be a felon, an abscess that forms along the volar surface in the finger tip. "A [...]

- Published on 2012-01-27