January 26, 2012
15777: Implantation of Biologic Implant
Question:
Our tumor physician performed a large resection and was left with what he perceived to be “at risk tissue” that required the use of biologic grafts to reconstruction the internal tissue and provide reinforcement. He was able to close the wound with a complex repair after reconstructing the deeper tissue and providing internal structure protection. Can I use 15777 for this purpose?
Answer:
CPT 2012 introduces a host of code changes including changes to the Section title, deletion of the old skin substitute codes and introduction of new skin replacement /substitute codes. The changes were necessitated due to confusion of the old codes and concern about inappropriate usage of the skin substitute codes as “mesh” or for “bulk.”
Additionally, and to answer your question, CPT introduced 15777, Implantation of biologic implant (e.g., acellular dermal matrix) for soft tissue reinforcement (e.g., breast, trunk) (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) for this exact purpose.
CPT code 15777 is an add-on code, thus is reported in addition to the primary procedure and a modifier 51 is not appended.
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