Effective January 1, 2019, revised Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) went into effect. While many codes remained the same, there were significant changes that affect the podiatric medical community.
The biggest change is that CPT 11100 — a commonly used biopsy code — was deleted, says Dr. Jeffrey Lehrman, Certified Professional Coder and a Bako Diagnostics Podiatric Medical Advisory Board member.
Replacing it are three new codes: punch biopsy (CPT 11104), shave biopsy (CPT 11102) and incisional biopsy (CPT 11106).
“Another impactful change is that there are new codes for fine needle aspiration procedures with ultrasound guidance (CPT 10005),” Dr. Lehrman says.
Submitting the right code is important, Dr. Lehrman stated, so that you are properly compensated for patient care by third-party payers.
“If providers want to get paid for performing biopsy procedures by insurance companies, you have to know the new codes,” Dr. Lehrman says.
The most common codes used by podiatrists can be found in the Bako Diagnostics CPT Coding Summary.
