Anesthesia Coding Alert

Question: How should I code an intradiscal injection?

Texas Subscriber Answer: Before you code for this, be sure you know exactly what type of injection the provider administered and where. Code intervertebral disk injections with 62292 (Injection procedure for chemonucleolysis, including diskography, intervertebral disk, single or multiple levels, lumbar). Report 62290* (Injection procedure for disk-ography, each level; lumbar) or 62291* (... cervical or thoracic), depending on the area injected, for any diskography procedures.

If the provider used a spinal cord injection to administer anesthesia agents, use the appropriate single injection or continuous infusion code: 62310 (Injection, single [not via indwelling catheter], not including neurolytic substances, with or without contrast [for either localization or epidurography], of diagnostic or thera-peutic substance[s] [including anesthetic, antispasmodic, opioid, steroid, other solution], epidural or subarachnoid; cervical or thoracic), 62311 (... lumbar, sacral [caudal]), 62318 (Injection, including catheter placement, continuous infusion or intermittent bolus, not including neurolytic substances, with or without contrast [for either localization or epidurography], of diagnostic or therapeutic substance[s] [including anesthetic, antispasmodic, opioid, steroid, other solution], epidural or subarachnoid; cervical or thoracic) or 62319 (... lumbar, sacral [caudal]).
 
If the provider administered a neurolytic substance to destroy the nerve, code with 62280* (Injection/infusion of neurolytic substance [e.g., alcohol, phenol, iced saline solutions], with or without other therapeutic substance; subarachnoid), 62281* (... epidural, cervical or thoracic) or 62282* (... epidural, lumbar, sacral [caudal]).