Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

You can separately bill a second NCS when you spot 3 circumstances. Don't let a CPT instruction fool you into assuming all additional nerve conduction tests count as inclusive. CPT contains a parenthetical note indicating you should -report 95900, 95903, and/or 95904 only once when multiple sites on the same nerve are stimulated or recorded.- This CPT instruction clarifies that testing a single nerve in any of the three nerve conduction CPT codes includes all different stimulation sites along the individual sensory, motor, or mixed nerves your neurologist tests, says Marvel Hammer, RN, CPC,CCS-P, PCS, ACS-PM, CHCO, owner of MJH Consulting in Denver. Despite these inclusions, the following circumstances support separately billing the additional NCS: 1. When nerve conduction studies are performed on two distinct branches of a given motor or sensory nerve,report more than one code from the 95900-95904 series. 2. Coders should also be aware that most nerves [...]