Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Degree of difficulty takes IPM injections to the next level.If your physician performs interventional pain management (IPM) services, you'll need to be up to speed on four top IPM procedures to make sure you're earning full deserved reimbursement for your claims.Difference: Pain management specialists are physicians who study pain and perform less invasive injections (soft tissue, peripheral nerve, and joint injections) and medication management to help relieve patients' pain. One common pain management procedure is trigger point injection (20552, Injection[s]; single or multiple trigger point[s], 1 or 2 muscle[s]) or 20553, ... single or multiple trigger point[s], 3 or more muscle[s]). An interventional pain management specialist's scope is a bit different and includes spinal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and other invasive techniques like nerve stimulator or opioid pump insertion, says Scott Groudine, MD, an anesthesiologist in Albany, N.Y. When submitting claims, you'll use specialty designation 72 for pain management or [...]