Anesthesia Coding Alert
Look to 01991 for Anesthesia During Genicular Ablation
Question: A CRNA in our practice provides MAC (monitored anesthesia care) for pain management procedures. He was involved with a case for a patient who had genicular ablation, and I’m not sure of the best anesthesia code to report. What should I file? Connecticut Subscriber Answer: In most situations, report genicular nerve ablation (radiofrequency) is reported with 64640 (Destruction by neurolytic agent; other peripheral nerve or branch), which crosses to anesthesia code 01991 (Anesthesia for diagnostic or therapeutic nerve blocks and injections [when block or injection is performed by a different physician or other qualified health care professional]; other than the prone position). However, if the pain management provider used pulsed radiofrequency (RF), the correct procedure code is 64999 (Unlisted procedure, nervous system) instead. Because 64999 is an “unlisted” code, it does not cross to a specific anesthesia code. You could still report 01991 and include documentation to explain the procedure.
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