Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Question: My neurologist performed a standard EEG (95819-26, Electroencephalogram [EEG]; including recording awake and asleep; Professional component). The EEG included a video. Can we charge for this? Washington Subscriber Answer: Usually you can code only if the video recording is for 24 hours. The only code that includes video recording is 95951 (Monitoring for localization of cerebral seizure focus by cable or radio, 16 or more channel telemetry, combined electroencephalographic [EEG] and video recording and interpretation [e.g., for presurgical localization], each 24 hours) but it is for every 24 hour recording. For 95951, if less than 12 hours of recording time is provided, then the reduced services modifier 52 should be appended to identify the reduction of service. If the recording time is 12 hours or more, the 52 modifier is not necessary, according to CPT Assistant (December 2004). The American Academy of Neurology also supports this position.