ICD 10 Coding Alert

While it’s important to check with individual payers for approved and complete diagnosis lists, there are some codes that come up frequently when coding discography or disc compression.

Keep this list handy when coding encounters that involve lumbar, cervical, or thoracic discography — the respective patients might have one of the following diagnoses.

Remember: Always check with individual payer policies, too!

Keep this list handy for the next time you file a claim for:

• 62287 (Decompression procedure, percutaneous, of nucleus pulposus of intervertebral disc, any method utilizing needle based technique to remove disc material under fluoroscopic imaging or other form of indirect visualization, with discography and/or epidural injection(s) at the treated level(s), when performed, single or multiple levels, lumbar)
• 62290 (Injection procedure for discography, each level; lumbar)
• 62291 (… cervical or thoracic)
• 72285 (Discography, cervical or thoracic, radiological supervision and interpretation)
• 72295 (Discography, lumbar, radiological supervision and interpretation).

(Diagnosis codes are listed in order anatomically, from cervical to sacroiliac.)

• M50.13 (Cervical disc disorder with radiculopathy, cervicothoracic region)
• M50.11 (Cervical disc disorder with radiculopathy, high cervical region)
• M50.121 (Cervical disc disorder at C4-C5 level with radiculopathy)
• M50.122 (Cervical disc disorder at C5-C6 level with radiculopathy)
• M50.123 (Cervical disc disorder at C6-C7 level with radiculopathy)
• M51.06 (Intervertebral disc disorders with myelopathy, lumbar region)
• M51.16 (Intervertebral disc disorders with radiculopathy, lumbar region)
• M51.17 (Intervertebral disc disorders with radiculopathy, lumbosacral region)
• M53.3 (Sacrococcygeal disorders, not elsewhere classified)
• M51.04 (Intervertebral disc disorders with myelopathy, thoracic region)
• M51.14 (Intervertebral disc disorders with radiculopathy, thoracic region)
• M51.05 (Intervertebral disc disorders with myelopathy, thoracolumbar region)
• M51.15 (Intervertebral disc disorders with radiculopathy, thoracolumbar region).