Anesthesia Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Remember 59 With Post-Op Caudal Block

Question: What CPT code applies to a caudal block for postoperative pain management?


Missouri Subscriber
Answer: The answer can seem difficult to find because it's buried in the descriptor. Read carefully and you-ll see that the correct code is 62311 (Injection, single [not via indwelling catheter], 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; lumbar, sacral [caudal]).

You can code separately for this block even if the physician administers it on the same day as an anesthetic during a procedure.

Simply append modifier 59 (Distinct procedural service) and include documentation to indicate the block is a separate service instead of part of the procedure's anesthesia.
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