Wiki 2 days old in Spinal SX coding. Please help

EricaWildinger

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2 questions on this op report.
OP report:
"Because of the progressive spinal collapse, and multiple pathologically collapsed vertebral bodies, I elected to reinforce the spine at multiple locations in her scoliosis, which resulted eventually in vertebroplasty technique through the aforementioned Jamshidi needles in the bilateral pedicles of L1, the left-sided of L3 and L4, and the right-sided of L4 and L5 pedicles"
Do I use 22521 (L1) and 22522 (L3), 22522 (L4), 22522 (L5)???


Second part of question...as stated in the OP report:
"After this part of the procedure was completed, and all the screws were placed with only the screw extensions emanation from the skin at this point, a percutaneous rod was placed from the screw extension in the L1 distally aiming towards the screw extension into S1. Once the rod was placed, rod reduction was performed by derotating the spine, and bringing the the heads of the pedicle screws into the location of the rod"
Is this non-segmented or segemented? He wrote the code 22842, but when I looked the code up, I feel like it's stating 2 rods and he just used one...Any help or guidance would be appreciated!!!
 
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You are right on part one. You would code 22521, 22522 x3. Part 2 you are not coding the rods you are counting the segments he going through with the rod. So L1-S1 is six segments so 22842 would be right. Hope this helps
 
I would suggest to you trying some free spinal coding Webinars, such as the excellent ones through Medtronic. All you have to do is register for it and they will send you an email when another one comes up. Other spinal device manufacturers also have great webinars. And there are lots of great texts that can give you assistance also, such as the Ingenix Coding companion for Spine and above. Understanding spinal coding is very hard at first, but just keep asking!
 
Thank you

Thank you abbeycat. I will look into those. My doc wants me to go to a NASS coding class as well. I'm starting to really get the hang of it, but it's taken a minute. I feel like it can only get better. I will definately take your advice and look into the info you gave me. :)
 
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