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Radiology Coding Alert

Reader Question:

You Can Pair 73580 With 27370

Published on Mon Mar 08, 2004

Question: When we perform supervision and interpretation for knee arthrography, can we also report CPT 73580 ? Should we also charge for the fluoroscopic guidance?

Texas Subscriber Answer: If you perform both the injection and the imaging during knee arthrography, you can report both 73580 (Radiologic examination, knee, arthrography, radiological supervision and interpretation) and the injection code, 27370 (Injection procedure for knee arthrography). If another physician group performs the injection, that practice should report 27370 and your practice should report only 73580.

CPT includes a parenthetical note following 27370 that states, "For radiological supervision and interpretation, use 73580." Plus, the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) does not bundle these codes into one another. Remember that "radiological supervision and interpretation" means that the radiologist was present for the study and performed the interpretation and report.

You cannot report the fluoroscopy separately. Not only does the NCCI bundle 76003 (Fluoroscopic guidance for needle placement [e.g., biopsy, aspiration, injection, localization device]) into 27370 and 73580, but CPT states, "Do not report 76003 in addition to 73580."
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