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Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Clear Up Diagnosis for Greater Occipital Nerve Block

Published on Mon Jan 04, 2010

Question: My pain management provider performed a GON block for a patient with severe, persistent headaches. I'm not sure how to code this based on the diagnosis. What CPT and ICD-9 codes should I use? Nevada Subscriber Answer: You would use 64405 (Injection, anesthetic agent; greater occipital nerve) to report a greater occipital nerve (GON) block. Dx help: Greater occipital neuralgia produces an aching, burning, or throbbing pain, or a tingling or numbness, along the back of the head. If your pain management specialist indicates "occipital headache" as the diagnosis, be aware there is no specific listing for occipital anatomic location under "headache" in the ICD-9 alphabetic index. Use the diagnosis code 784.0 (Headache) from the "Symptoms, Signs and Ill-defined Conditions" chapter. There are several headache codes you might encounter when coding for occipital or trigeminal nerve blocks. Clip and save this checklist if your practice regularly administers these blocks: [...]
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