Orthopedic Coding: Organize Your Knee Arthroscopic Claims Into Compartments

By Author: Angela Martin
Total Articles: 206
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If knee arthroscopy hovers near the top of your surgeon's case list, do not get lost when he accesses multiple compartments. You need to learn your anatomy and follow some simple coding rules, including how to deal with knee areas that are not associated with particular compartments to stay on track each and every time.

Tip 1: Translate the knee compartment location into proper codes

CPT covers a large list of codes for knee procedures; however everything your surgeon does within the knee must take place within one or more of three compartments. You should know each compartment's location: medial, lateral, Patellofemoral.

Tip 2: Remember these common knee arthroscopic terms

Even if your orthopedist does not do the best job specifying individual compartments, his notes regarding the procedures themselves should point you in the right direction. Many of the knee's anatomic structures can apply to either side of the knee so include ‘medial' or ‘lateral' in the name for clarification. Likewise, procedures involving the patella ...
... should be easy to spot. That narrows your options; however watch for some other terms that often get tricky.

Tip 3: Catch the descriptor details

Many knee arthroscopy descriptors vary by only a word or two. Do not overlook details like ‘limited' and ‘major' to distinguish the procedure's extent or ‘medial or lateral' versus ‘medial and lateral' to describe the procedure site.

For more tips on ways to get your knee arthroscopic claims right and for other orthopedics billing and coding news, sign up for an audio conference. When you sign up for one, you'll get tips on ways to code knee arthroscopy by compartments, get tips on knee anatomy and proper CPT coding, get sample appeals letters for inappropriately denied knee procedures, learn HCPCS codes related to arthroscopic knee procedures, and lots more. In fact, you can even go for orthopedics coding week, where you'll get every bit of information you need to code right for your orthopedic practice.

And the best part of attending such an orthopedic coding conference is the CEUs that you stand to gain.