Radiology Coding Alert

READER QUESTIONS:

Decide Whether 72295 Is per Level

Published on Sat Sep 12, 2009

Question: When we perform discography on five different lumbar levels, how many times should we report 72295?

Kansas Subscriber

Answer: For five lumbar levels, you may report 72295 (Discography, lumbar,radiological supervision and interpretation) five times.

Support: You should report 72295 for each lumbar level examined, according to CPT Assistant (April 2003). Note that the article includes L5-S1 (lumbosacral joint) as one of the lumbar levels.

You also may report the associated injection code (62290, Injection procedure for discography, each level; lumbar) once for each level imaged. Medicare's Medically Unlikely Edits (MUEs) limit you to five units of 62290 when performed and documented, which corresponds to one unit per lumbar level (L1-L2 through L5-S1).

-- The answers for You Be the Coder and Reader Questions were reviewed by Michele Midkiff, CPC-I, PCS, RCC, executive director of Coding Affiliates Inc., an interventional and neuro-interventional radiology coding service in Mountain View, Calif.

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