Coding for Musculoskeletal Services

You are a new medical coder that works for an Orthopedic medical practice. Patients are often seen for fractures or dislocations which require either a cast or splint. A common patient encounter may be for the application of a long-arm split.

Apply your knowledge of CPT to this patient scenario.

Include the following aspects in the assignment:

•  Describe what a long-arm splint is and when this would be appropriate
•  Provide the CPT code from the Surgery section which would identify application of a long-arm split
•  List the steps of how you arrived at this code and explain how this is important for reimbursement purposes