Anesthesia Coding Alert

Many causes lead to spine problems

The term "pain" is so broad that many patients have difficulty characterizing it. Some have acute pain that has lasted less than six months and is directly related to tissue damage or pain following an accident or injury. Others have chronic pain, which is longer-lasting and may or may not have an identifiable cause.

The longer either type of pain lasts, the more susceptible it is to other influences and the more likely it is to develop into a chronic pain condition or cause structural problems such as degenerative disk disease (722.xx, Intervertebral disk disorders), spinal stenosis (723.0, Spinal stenosis in cervical region; or 724.0x, Spinal stenosis, other than cervical) or spondylolisthesis (738.4, Acquired spondylolisthesis).

The more you know about the spine and how these types of damage affect it, the more successful your coding will be.