Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Hint: Code for tunneled vs non-tunneled approach; check for follow-up. Spinal catheters may pose a coding challenge if you do not know what to specifically look for in the clinical note. You need to confirm the approach and catheter handling to narrow your choice to the right code. Follow these tips to efficiently report the spinal catheters. Your surgeon may be implanting a spinal catheter in a patient who needs infusions over a long period of time. For example, long-term intrathecal or epidural infusions may be required to treat chronic pain conditions. In such patients, your surgeon may 'tunnel' the epidural catheter subcutaneously and may attach the catheter directly to an external pump or through an implanted subcutaneous port. Reporting a tunneled catheter placement is easy if you can target your choice of codes to laminectomy, if any was done. The next step is to confirm if your surgeon placed, [...]