Wiki 22845 report once or twice

Henson65

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HI all! So a physician and I are having a pretty heated discussion regarding CPT 22845 and whether it should be reported once or twice. His feelings are since he placed two separate plates he should be able to code two separate CPTs of 22845, my feelings are that based on the documentation CPT 22845 is coded based upon the levels and not on the device count. From his OP note, he fused two levels using two plates and thus reported with one unit of CPT 22845. Now, if he had skipped levels in between then we could report with two 22845. Below is a copy of the OP note specifically where the plates are discussed.
4653
 
I agree with 22845 only once. Its levels spanned, 22845 covered 1 or 2 levels.

Also to note, good luck billing 22845x2. The MUE for that code is 1. My providers try to do that in the next for 2 level noncontiguous ACDF but Ive taken them all the way to judge and was denied due to MUE. We end up billing that twas 22846.
 
I have been coding spine for years. It is absolutely only 1 unit. I would explain to your provider that the concept doesn't apply based on the code description of 22845 - it is by vertebral segments, not pieces of hardware.
 
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