Reader Questions:
Remember 59 With Post-Op Caudal Block
Published on Mon Feb 27, 2006
Question: What CPT code applies to a caudal block for postoperative pain management?
Missouri Subscriber
Answer: The answer can seem difficult to find because it's buried in the descriptor. Read carefully and you-ll see that the correct code is 62311 (Injection, single [not via indwelling catheter], not including neurolytic substances, with or without contrast [for either localization or epidurography], of diagnostic or therapeutic substance[s] [including anesthetic, antispasmodic, opioid, steroid, other solution], epidural or subarachnoid; lumbar, sacral [caudal]).
You can code separately for this block even if the physician administers it on the same day as an anesthetic during a procedure.
Simply append modifier 59 (Distinct procedural service) and include documentation to indicate the block is a separate service instead of part of the procedure's anesthesia.
