Coding Challenges in Common Pediatric and Adolescent Hip Preservation Procedures

Abstract

Pediatric and adolescent hip preservation is a rapidly evolving subspecialty that envelopes clinical and technical aspects of other subspecialties such as sports medicine and adult joint reconstruction. Despite many of the techniques having been established for several decades, numerous procedures performed in this field do not have corresponding CPT codes resulting in considerable variability in how different surgeons code for the same procedure. This article presents case scenarios for common hip pathologies treated surgically by pediatric orthopaedic surgeons. The intent is to clarify some discrepancies in coding for these procedures and aid the surgeon in proper billing. It is important to note that the following scenarios are hypothetical and therefore ultimate code selection should always reflect the procedure performed and reported within the operative documentation.