Forum - Questions & Answers
Coding Anal Lesions - 17110 vs 46917
Hello!
I'm currently in school learning procedure coding. On one of our coding assignments it states:
Dr. Smith treats the patient, age 51, for 10 benign anal papillae (small nipple-like lesions). He destroys the lesions using laser surgery.
CPT® code:______________
I went to the index & looked up Anus > Lesions > Destruction which gave me a code range & that's how I came up with 46917 (it can also be found going to Lesions > Anal > Destruction)
The description for 46917 says: Destruction of lesion(s), anus (eg, condyloma, papilloma, molluscum contagiosum, herpetic vesicle), simple, laser surgery
The description for 17110 is: Destruction (eg, laser surgery, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, chemosurgery, surgical curettement), of benign lesions other than skin tags or cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions, up to 14 lesions
Under the destruction guidelines (page 87 in the CPT® 2014 edition) it states:
(For destruction of lesion(s) in specific anatomic sites, see 40820, 46900 - 46917, etc...)
My instructor stated that it could not be 46917 because it's of the skin - not the anus. I used the 3M encoder and started with Destruction then by anatomic site > anus etc... and got 46917, then I started over with Destruction again THEN by SKIN then anatomic site and ended up with 46917 again.
What is the correct code and - WHY is that the correct code? The hardest part of this class for me is trying to find how to use the index to get me in the correct area, I much prefer doing ICD-10 coding (which I learned last semester). THANK YOU in advance for any words of wisdom & assistance!