Coding references
Orthopedics: the codes and the rules.
Three tables for a orthopedic 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.
- An injection (20610) on the same day as a separately identifiable visit needs modifier 25 on the E/M; the injection alone does not earn a visit.
- Arthroplasty and arthroscopy carry a 90-day global: routine post-op visits are 99024, and a visit for an unrelated problem in that window needs modifier 24.
- Fracture care codes (25600, 27786) include the first cast or splint; a replacement cast later is billed separately.
- Laterality matters in ICD-10-CM: right, left and bilateral are different codes, and payers deny an unspecified side when a specific one exists.
Other specialties.
A receptionist that knows orthopedic calls.
Screening forms your clinicians approve, the on-call paged with answers, and every call booked or handed back as a task.