Update:
CCI Edits Bundle 76005 Incorrectly
Published on Sat Dec 01, 2001
A recent round of CCI edits bundled 76005 (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) with 27096 (injection procedure for sacroiliac joint, arthrography and/or anesthetic/steroid).
According to Scott Groudine, MD, an anesthesiologist in Albany, N.Y., this is not correct. "It was an error that has been identified and corrected. The procedures are not bundled and can be billed separately," he says. Anesthesiology coders and billers should check with their local Medicare carriers to see if the codes have been unbundled and may want to resubmit claims for fluoroscopic guidance that were previously denied.