tbuxton
New
I'm posting this here in General Discussion because I didn't see a sub-forum that seemed appropriate for Acupuncture.
CPT tells us that acupuncture is reported based upon 15-minute increments of personal (face-to-face) contact with the patient. There are codes for with and without electrical stimulation; for purposes of this question, let's forget about electrical stimulation and just use the following:
97810 - Acupuncture, 1 or more needles; without electrical stimulation, initial 15 minutes of personal one-on-one contact with the patient.
+ 97811 - [Acupuncture, 1 or more needles;] without electrical stimulation, each additional 15 minutes of personal one-on-one contact with the patient, with re-insertion of needle(s).
Notice that the add-on code for each additional 15 minutes specifies with re-insertion of needle(s). My question is this: How do we code the service if there are more than 15 minutes of face-to-face time but no re-insertion of needles... that is, the initial set of needles are placed, and they are not moved, and no additional needles are introduced?
We cannot use code 97811, because it requires re-insertion of needle(s). We cannot use 97810 more than once. No other code seems applicable. The use of modifier 22 for extra work seems inappropriate here.
Any advice?
Thanks.
CPT tells us that acupuncture is reported based upon 15-minute increments of personal (face-to-face) contact with the patient. There are codes for with and without electrical stimulation; for purposes of this question, let's forget about electrical stimulation and just use the following:
97810 - Acupuncture, 1 or more needles; without electrical stimulation, initial 15 minutes of personal one-on-one contact with the patient.
+ 97811 - [Acupuncture, 1 or more needles;] without electrical stimulation, each additional 15 minutes of personal one-on-one contact with the patient, with re-insertion of needle(s).
Notice that the add-on code for each additional 15 minutes specifies with re-insertion of needle(s). My question is this: How do we code the service if there are more than 15 minutes of face-to-face time but no re-insertion of needles... that is, the initial set of needles are placed, and they are not moved, and no additional needles are introduced?
We cannot use code 97811, because it requires re-insertion of needle(s). We cannot use 97810 more than once. No other code seems applicable. The use of modifier 22 for extra work seems inappropriate here.
Any advice?
Thanks.