Multiple Lesion Excisions. Do you add them together?

Question:

If I am excising multiple basal cell carcinomas on a patient’s chest, do I add the sizes and margins together and report one code since they are in the same anatomic group of CPT codes?

Answer:

No.  For lesion excisions, each lesion plus it’s most narrow margin are reported separately.  CPT guidelines state to “report separately each malignant lesion excised.”  Remember, simple closure is bundled into lesion excision, but you would separately report intermediate or complex repairs.  And, depending on the type of repairs performed, you may need to add the repairs together.

*This response is based on the best information available as of 03/01/18.