Reader Question ~ Say Yes to Fluoro Guidance for Hip Injections
Published on Tue Jul 24, 2007
Question: Can we submit 77002 for hip injections of cortisone and lidocaine? The code doesn't specify body parts, so our physician thinks we should report it.
New Hampshire Subscriber
Answer: If your provider uses fluoroscopy to verify the needle placement during a hip injection, you can report 77002 (Fluoroscopic guidance for needle placement [e.g., biopsy, aspiration, injection, localization device]).
Watch locations: If your physician administers the injection in a facility setting, append modifier 26 (Professional component) to 77002 to indicate that you are only billing the professional component. If he performs the injection in an office setting, you do not append modifier 26, and you should also be able to bill for supplying the cortisone and lidocaine.
Beware assumptions: Pain management coders often report fluoroscopic guidance with 77003 (Fluoroscopic guidance and localization of needle or catheter tip for spine or paraspinous diagnostic or therapeutic injection procedures [epidural, transforaminal epidural, subarachnoid, paravertebral facet joint, paravertebral facet joint nerve, or sacroiliac joint], including neurolytic agent destruction). But this code is incorrect for hip injections because the CPT descriptor specifies that the guidance is for spine or paraspinous procedures only.
