Relieving the Pressure Part II: Coding Laminectomies in ICD-10 PCS

Coding for laminectomies in ICD-10 PCS can feel strenuous on the best days and back breaking on the worst. ICD-10 PCS requires a great amount of detail and understanding of the procedures being performed to accurately build and assign the laminectomy code. As with the coding of other complex surgical procedures, coders often struggle with identifying which portion of the spinal fusion procedure to code or not to code. Additionally coders often have trouble identifying those procedures performed during a laminectomy which are considered integral to the laminectomy and are not assigned additional codes—versus those not considered to be integral and are assigned separate codes. In this session we will clear up this confusion by taking it step by step and showing you that coding for laminectomies can be stress-free.