Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; debridement/shaving of articular cartilage

CPT 29877 is the billing code for "Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; debridement/shaving of articular cartilage". For surgical knee arthroscopy with debridement/shaving of articular cartilage

Medicare pays approximately $616.52 for CPT 29877 (national average). Actual payment varies by geographic location due to GPCI adjustments. Hospital and commercial insurance rates are typically 2-4x higher than Medicare rates.

CPT 29877 has a total RVU of 26.45, broken down as: Work RVU 11.50, Practice Expense RVU 13.80, and Malpractice RVU 1.15. RVUs (Relative Value Units) determine Medicare reimbursement rates.

Key documentation requirements for CPT 29877 include: Indication for debridement; Location and extent of cartilage damage; Debridement technique; Grade of cartilage damage. Missing or incomplete documentation is a leading cause of claim denials for this code.

Bundling considerations for CPT 29877: Includes surgical arthroscopy. Includes debridement/shaving of articular cartilage Use an NCCI bundling checker to verify specific code combinations before billing.

Common modifiers for CPT 29877 include: 50 (Bilateral procedure when both knees performed same session), 51 (Multiple procedures performed same session), 22 (Increased procedural services for extensive debridement). Modifiers indicate special circumstances and can affect reimbursement or prevent claim denials.

The typical time requirement for CPT 29877 is 50-80 minutes typical operative time. Time-based codes require documentation of the actual time spent providing the service.