Ethical and Educational Considerations in Coding Hand Surgeries

摘要

Coding for services provided to patients is an integral part of what hand surgeons do on a daily basis. Surgeons use Current Procedural Terminology codes (CPT), published by the American Medical Association, as a method to represent the care provided. The CPT codes are the most commonly used means to quantify the work of surgery for reimbursement. Despite the critical importance of coding and billing to maintain practice solvency, and thus to continue to provide care for patients, surgeons spend little time teaching or learning about billing either during training or after starting their practices.