Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes share a common descriptor.

Chronic neck pain is a common complaint for patients undergoing pain management treatment. One piece of good news as you prepare for ICD-10 implementation in October 2014 is that you’ll have a simple one-to-one crossover when you shift diagnosis sets.

Currently, you report 723.1 (Cervicalgia) when your physician diagnoses chronic neck pain. Under ICD-10 you’ll report M54.2 (Cervicalgia).

Find it: Diagnosis M54.2 falls under the category “Other Dorsopathies; Dorsalgia.” Note that M54.2 does not apply to cervicalgia due to intervertebral cervical disc disorder. For those situations, ICD-10 directs you to the M50 (Cervical disc disorders) code family.

Coding tip: Don’t fall into the trap of reporting neck pain (or pain in any of the spinal regions) with one of the joint pain codes from ICD-9.  Coding options in that group specify joint pain in the shoulder region (719.41), upper arm (719.42), pelvic region and thigh (719.45), and other anatomic regions. A “pain in joint” choice, however, isn’t as accurate for neck pain as 723.1.

Document it: The biggest factor in correctly coding neck pain is ensuring your provider always specifies the site so you can report a detailed code whenever possible.