Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Keep compliant with new status indicators and codes.The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will introduce some changes April 1 that could have a big effect on your practice's bottom line, especially if your provider uses chemodenervation to treat patients.Bilateral Indicator Shifts to '2'Neurologists and pain management specialists sometimes use chemodenervation to help relieve symptoms of spasmodic torticollis (333.83), cerebral palsy (such as 343.x), or other conditions. The codes you rely on for these procedures include:64613 -- Chemodenervation of muscle(s); neck muscle(s) (e.g., for spasmodic torticollis, spasmodic dysphonia)64614 -- ... extremity(s) and/or trunk muscle(s) (e.g., for dystonia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis).Previous versions of the physician fee schedule listed a bilateral status indicator of "1" for 64613 and 64614. That meant you could append modifier 50 (Bilateral procedure) and receive additional payment if your provider injected botulinum toxin into bilateral anatomic sites, such as the right and left upper extremities.Change: Medicare is changing the bilateral [...]