A 6-year-old boy was bitten by a dog and sustained multiple lacerations as a result. He has a 5 cm laceration on his right lower arm, a 2 cm laceration on his left hand, and a 2.6 cm laceration to the right side of his lower cheek. While in the ER, the wounds were flushed, then the patient was sedated and the arm and hand lacerations were repaired. Intermediate repair was necessary for the facial laceration due to the depth of the wound and layered closure was performed. The patient was also given a tetanus shot and started on antibiotics. What CPT codes would you use for the laceration repairs of this child and what order is correct?
Explanation
Answer: C - Code 12032 is being used as the primary procedure code because this code is for 2.6-5 cm facial lacerations and was considered an intermediate repair. The total length of laceration for the arm and hand lacerations was 7 cm, so 12002 is also correct. Because this was for a simple repair that is less complicated than the other repair, it is listed as the secondary procedure code. Modifier -59 is used because there was more than one classification of wounds repaired on this patient.
Code 12002 is correct but must be listed as the second code due to it being the less complicated repair. Code 12013 is incorrect because this code is for simple repair of a wound 2.6 cm to 5.0 cm in length and the length of the simple repairs was a total of 7 cm. This code is also specific to the face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips and/or mucous membranes.
