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Radiology Coding Alert

READER QUESTIONS:

Don't Miss: Code Diskography per Disk

Published on Tue Aug 23, 2005

Question: When I get a report for a lumbar diskography, should I report the supervision and interpretation (S&I) code per disk or per region?


Maryland Subscriber
Answer: According to the American Medical Association, you may report and be reimbursed for diskography codes per disk. You should also report the injection code per disk.

Example: A physician pushes a sterilized needle through a larger needle into a lumbar disk and injects contrast medium. He repeats this in two other disks.

What to do: You should report 72295 (Diskography, lumbar, radiological supervision and interpretation) three times, and 62290 (Injection procedure for diskography, each level; lumbar) three times.

Don't: The S&I code includes fluoroscopy, so don't report 76005 (Fluoroscopic guidance and localization ...).

You should report diskography of the cervical and thoracic regions the same way, using 72285 (Diskography, cervical or thoracic, radiological supervision and interpretation) and 62291 (Injection procedure for diskography, each level; cervical or thoracic).
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