CPT 15100: Split‑Thickness Autograft from Trunk, Arms, or Legs - OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 15100: Split‑Thickness Autograft from Trunk, Arms, or Legs

CPT code 15100 denotes a split‑thickness autograft procedure in which skin is harvested from the trunk, arms, or legs and placed to cover a defect measuring up to 100 cm² or, for infants and children, up to one percent of total body area. This surgical grafting technique is a foundational reconstructive option for burns, trauma, and other full‑thickness soft‑tissue defects and is widely used across hospital and ambulatory surgical settings. Nationally, proper coding of skin autograft procedures affects surgical service reporting, resource allocation, and physician billing consistency.

Key payers covered in this overview include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise explanation of the clinical and coding scope of 15100, comparisons to related graft codes, and context for typical sites of service and clinical indications. The publication summarizes benchmark considerations and common documentation elements that inform payer adjudication. The content is intended to help billing, compliance, and clinical teams understand where 15100 fits within reconstructive surgery coding, how it differs from adjacent codes for different anatomic sites or graft sizes, and what clinical contexts commonly justify use of this code.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicare15100CPTskin autograftsplit-thickness graftreconstructive surgeryburn careoperative codingsurgical billing

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 15100 describes a split‑thickness autograft harvested from the trunk, arms, or legs. The procedure involves excision and placement of the autograft for the first 100 cm² or less, or one percent of body area for an infant or child.

Service type: Autograft skin grafting (split‑thickness), surgical procedure.

Typical site of service: Operating room or procedure suite in an inpatient or outpatient surgical setting, with donor sites on the trunk, arms, or legs.

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A 32-year-old male sustains partial-thickness burns to his left forearm and lower leg after a household scald. After initial emergency care and wound stabilization with debridement and topical dressings, the burn wounds fail to epithelialize and require definitive coverage. The surgical team schedules a split-thickness skin autograft harvested from the patient’s thigh (donor site on the trunk/leg) to cover an excised burn wound measuring 90 cm2. The procedure is performed in an operating room under general anesthesia. Intraoperative steps include measurement and excision of nonviable tissue, harvest of a split-thickness graft from the thigh, meshing and placement of the graft onto the prepared wound bed, securement with staples or sutures, and application of a nonadherent dressing and bolster. Postoperative workflow includes recovery in the PACU, dressing checks, graft monitoring for adherence and perfusion, pain control, discharge instructions for graft and donor site care, and outpatient follow-up with the burn/plastic surgery clinic for dressing changes and assessment of graft take.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`22`	Increased procedural services	Use when work, time, or complexity is substantially greater than typical for a `15100` graft (document justification).

Related Codes

cpt-16031-dermatologic-procedure

CPT 16031: Dermatologic Procedure

16036

CPT 16036: Escharotomy, each additional incision

15102

CPT 15102: Skin Substitute Graft Application, Trunk/Arms/Legs

cpt-15116-epidermal-autograft-face-scalp-hands-feet

CPT 15116: Epidermal Autograft for Face, Hands, Feet, and Multiple Digits

15101

CPT 15101: Split-Thickness Autograft, Each Additional 100 sq. cm. or Less

cpt-16033-lesion-excision

CPT 16033: Lesion Excision Procedure

16030

CPT 16030: Dressings and Debridement for Large Partial-Thickness Burns

cpt-15102-soft-tissue-reconstruction-adjacent-tissue-transfer

CPT 15102: Soft Tissue Reconstruction with Adjacent Tissue Transfer

15005

CPT 15005: Surgical Preparation for Skin Replacement Surgery

15117

CPT 15117: Skin Substitute Graft Application to Trunk, Arms, or Legs

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Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
`208600000X`	Surgery Physician	General surgeons may perform skin grafting in trauma/burn settings.
`208800000X`	Plastic Surgery Physician	Plastic surgeons commonly perform split-thickness autografts for burns and soft-tissue coverage.
`2086S0122X`	Surgical Critical Care Physician	Surgical critical care specialists may manage complex burn patients perioperatively.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`T20.00XA`	Burn of unspecified degree of head, face, and neck, initial encounter	Burns in this anatomic region may require grafting if deep or non-healing; included when donor/recipient areas are head/neck or when evaluating total burn burden.
`T21.00XA`	Burn of unspecified degree of trunk, initial encounter	Directly relevant when the trunk is the recipient or donor site for a split-thickness autograft described by `15100`.
`T22.00XA`	Burn of unspecified degree of shoulder and upper limb, except wrist and hand, initial encounter	Relevant for grafting on upper extremity burns within the scope of `15100` when less specific hand/ wrist codes are not applicable.
`T23.001A`	Burn of unspecified degree of wrist and hand, initial encounter	Relevant when the wrist or hand requires grafting; may affect code selection if hand-specific codes are indicated.
`T24.00XA`	Burn of unspecified degree of hip and lower limb, except ankle and foot, initial encounter	Directly relevant when lower extremity burns are the recipient site for a split-thickness autograft described by `15100`.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`15120`	Split‑thickness autograft, face, scalp, eyelids, mouth, neck, ears, orbits, genitalia, hands, feet, and/or multiple digits; first 100 cm² or less, or 1% of body area of infants and children	Alternative graft code when donor or recipient site involves face, hands, feet, or other specified regions instead of trunk/limb covered by `15100`.
`15050`	Pinch graft(s), up to 2 cm diameter, to cover small ulcers, fingertips, or other small areas	Used for very small focal defects where a pinch graft is clinically appropriate instead of a split-thickness graft like `15100`.