Coding references
Dermatology: the codes and the rules.
Three tables for a dermatology practice, each one a coder can check against the 2025 CMS and ICD-10-CM files, and the notes that come up every week.
The tables.
The notes a coder repeats.
- Biopsy codes are chosen by technique (tangential, punch, incisional) and reported once per lesion; only one primary biopsy code per day, the rest as add-ons.
- Destruction codes (17000 series, 17110) carry a 10-day global; a visit for a new complaint within it needs modifier 24, a new procedure modifier 79.
- Excision size is the excised diameter including margins, measured before the specimen shrinks in formalin.
Other specialties.
A receptionist that knows dermatology calls.
Screening forms your clinicians approve, the on-call paged with answers, and every call booked or handed back as a task.