A patient suffered a comminuted fracture of the right arm due to a crush injury. The physician implanted three pins in a single plane above the fracture and two pins and one wire along the same plane under the fracture location on the humerus of the right arm. What is the correct code for this service?
Explanation
Answer: A - The correct code for this service is 20690 (Application of a Uniplane (Pins or Wires in 1 Plane), Unilateral, External Fixation System). Although multiple pins were placed, the code description referred to multiple pins and/or wires. The pins/wires were placed along the same plane, making the fixation device a single plane, rather than multiple planes.
