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Anesthesia Coding Alert

CD-9 Checkpoint:

Show Nerve Block Necessity With This Quick Key

Published on Sat Jan 01, 2005

Don't let faulty diagnosis coding shortchange your claims CMS publishes a relatively short list of ICD-9 diagnosis codes that support medical necessity for single nerve blocks such as 64415 (Injection, anesthetic agent; brachial plexus, single). Some of these conditions you might see in a pain management setting include:

  053.12 and 053.13 for Postherpetic trigeminal neuralgia and Postherpetic polyneuropathy

  141.0-239.9 for all neoplasms

  307.81, Pain disorders related to psychological factors; tension headache

  337.20-337.29 for reflex sympathetic dystrophy

  Various diagnoses from 350 to 355 for peripheral nervous system disorders

  443.0, Raynaud's syndrome

  443.9, Peripheral vascular disease, unspecified

  784.0, Symptoms involving head and neck; headache.
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