Wiki 76000 vs 77002

apoland

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I work in a plastic/reconstructive surgeons office and we do a lot of hand/wrist work including injections. Something I am seeing a lot of is the use of 77002 and 76000. My understanding of the descriptions of each is that 76000 is to be used for more extensive imagining i.e. confirmation of non-union of fx prior to treatment or pin location etc and 77002 is for direct guidance during an injection or biopsy i.e. cmc joint injection 20600.
Can anyone help me confirm the difference in use? My docs seem to be using them interchangeably and I'm not sure that's appropriate.
Also would the use of multiple units of 76000 only be done when different areas of the body are viewed i.e. hand fracture left and wrist fracture right?

I appreciate any help at help.

Thank you in advance.
Have a great day.

-Autumn
 
Your thinking is correct. 77002 is used for needle placement. 76000-26 is used to help physicians perform their procedures. I code for a foot surgeon who uses this all the time. As far as billing it multiple times, I would stay away from that. 76000 does have an MUE of 3, however it includes "up to" one hour of time. Chances are after three procedures the surgeon is nowhere near an hours worth of time. For me, I bill it if it does not bundle and if insurance pays, fine. If not, it's not worth the fight. We get paid about $15 or so for it. I'm not going to waste my time trying to fight for $15. Your going to spend more money trying to get it paid than you actually get. As a practical matter, this is a dead end street. I've never tried to bill more than once, but I think your opening up something that will just waste your time and not pay anything.
 
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