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Surgical Dressings

Coverage

Documentation

Surgical Dressings Reference Chart

The Surgical Dressings Reference chart provides a quick look at what surgical dressings are covered for various wound depths and exudates, along with Medicare's recommended frequency of change coverage information.

Surgical Dressings Reference Chart

Surgical Dressings Reference Chart Data

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Topic Details
Documentation Requirements
  • General documentation requirements must be met in addition to coverage criteria. This includes refill requirements and proof of delivery requirements
Modifiers
  • Modifiers A1 - A9 have been established to indicate that a particular item is being used as a primary or secondary dressing on a surgical or debrided wound and to indicate number of wounds on which that dressing is being used. Modifier number must correspond to number of wounds on which dressing is being used, not total number of wounds treated
    • For example, if patient has four (4) wounds but a particular dressing is only used on two (2) of them, the A2 modifier must be used with that HCPCS code
  • Modifiers A1-A9 are not used with HCPCS A6531 and A6532
  • Tape HCPCS A4450 and A4452 are used with surgical dressings and must be billed with AW modifier (in addition to appropriate A1-A9 modifier)
RT/LT Modifiers
  • RT and/or LT modifiers must be used with HCPCS A6531, A6532, and A6545 for gradient compression stockings and wraps
  • Suppliers must bill each item on two separate claim lines using the RT and LT modifiers and 1 UOS on each claim line. Claim lines for HCPCS codes requiring use of the RT and LT modifiers, billed without the RT and/or LT modifiers or with the RTLT on a single claim line, will be rejected as incorrect coding
HCPCS Codes Multiple Policies
  • When dressing codes are billed for items covered under another benefit (e.g., gauze for a continent ostomy which is covered under prosthetic device benefit) claims must be billed according to documentation requirements specified in applicable LCD (see Ostomy Supplies LCD for details)
Supplies
  • No more than a one month's supply of dressings may be provided at one time, unless there is documentation to support necessity of greater quantities in home setting in an individual case

 

Last Updated Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:42:09 +0000

The below are topic specific articles which have been published to "Latest Updates" and sent out in Noridian emails within the past two years. Exclusions to this include time sensitive related announcements such as: Noridian and CMS educational events, Ask-the-Contractor Teleconferences and claims processing downtime.

paginationType noridian
Surgical Dressing Tools 05/23/2023
Surgical Dressings Webinar - June 21, 2023 05/15/2023
Initial Wound Evaluation for Surgical Dressings 04/18/2023
Noridian Offers a Buffet of Surgical Dressings Self-Paced Tutorials 10/18/2022
LCD Revisions Summary for September 8, 2022 09/08/2022
Surgical Dressings and Pneumatic Compressions Devices (PCD) 05/24/2022
Watch DME on Demand Tutorials Anytime 02/21/2022
Qualifying Wounds for Surgical Dressing Coverage 01/19/2022
Service Specific Post-Payment Reviews 01/14/2022
Service Specific Post-Payment Reviews 10/20/2021
Surgical Dressings DME on Demand Tutorials 06/02/2021
Service Specific Post-Payment Review: December 2020 - February 2021 03/30/2021