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Wiki Lidocaine injection w/out procedure

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tarafarmer

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I have run across this a few times in the last few days. We have had two patients that came in for an injury. They received an injection of lidocaine, but no procedure was actually performed. To bill for this I am guessing 96372 is proper for billing this, but since no other drug was administer with the lidocaine, can we bill for the lidocaine itself?
 
The patient had a stingray sting on the foot. Due to the sting, the patient had a puncture wound that was soaked, but not closed.
 
96372 is for an IM or subq injection. If lidocaine was injected around the wound I think that's included in the E/M. The only lidocaine HCPCS code (J2001) is for IV administration.
 
I agree. It sounds like there would be an E/M service only if the wound was addressed and lidocaine given because the wound hurt to soak/treat.
 
I understand what you are saying here, but is an injection in any other circumstance considered to be part of an E/M? If that is then why bill the injection for Depo, Phenergan, or any other drug? 96372 may be the wrong code though I am not sure. According to the drug book that I looked in regarding Lidocaine, it is indicated for local or regional anesthesia by infiltration technique, such as percutaneous injection. The infiltration technique that was used was an injection into the tissue of the skin. I am not necessarily trying to bill for the meds, but I do believe the technique is not inclusive of an E/M; however, if it is not justifiable then I do not want to bill it. I know that this would normally be bundled if a procedure was done, but in this case the only procedure is the injection. Please tell me what your thoughts are regarding this.
 
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