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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Look at Discography Levels to Correctly Report 72285 and 72295

Published on Tue Jun 12, 2012

Subscriber Question: The descriptors for codes CPT 62290 and CPT 62291 specify "each level." Should we report related codes 72285 and 72295 per level as well, or once per session?


Answer: Per level reporting is appropriate for 72285 (Discography, cervical or thoracic, radiological supervision and interpretation) and 72295 (Discography, lumbar, radiological supervision and interpretation). To answer your question, yes, you may report the radiological supervision and interpretation codes once per level, just as you do injection codes 62290 (Injection procedure for discography, each level; lumbar) and 62291 (... cervical or thoracic).

Support: The March 2010 CPT® Assistant describes discography and offers a coding example for a three-level lumbar discography for payers who allow use of modifier 51 (Multiple procedures):

62290
62290-51 x 2
72295
72295-51 x 2.


Different payers may have different preferences for how you report multiple procedures covered [...]
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