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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