Wound Debridement vs Active Wound Care Management

It is important for coders to understand the difference between wound debridement and active wound care management. Wound debridement procedures consist of physicians removing nonviable tissue from a wound with forceps, scissors, scalpel, or tissue nippers. Wound debridement codes are reported by depth of tissue that is removed and surface area of the wound and using CPT codes 11042 – 11047. Active wound care procedures are performed to remove devitalized and/or necrotic tissue to promote healing. These procedures are captured with CPT 97597 and 97598.  Pay very close attention to provider’s documentation to ensure the accurate CPT codes are reported for the encounter.