Coding practices affect the cost of distal radius fracture care.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of an Emergency Medicine Department's billing practices on the total cost of care for distal radius fractures. This study identified patients by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) billing codes treated by the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (DOS) and Department of Emergency Medicine (DEM) at the University of Arizona. In every case, the surgical modifier 54 was used.