Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Here’s the latest news on implementation, straight from the AMA. January 2013 brings coding changes for every specialty, particularly if your providers offer chemodenervation injections or neuromuscular electrodiagnostic studies. Read on for highlights experts shared at the American Medical Association’s (AMA) annual CPT® and RBRVS Symposium in Chicago in November. Prepare for Big Chemodenervation Changes If your providers use chemodenervation as a treatment for focal muscle spasticity or chronic migraines, don’t miss important changes to guidelines and code descriptors. Chemodenervation guidelines for 2013 are revised to state: Do not report a destruction code when therapies are not destructive to the target nerve. Chemodenervation agent reported separately with chemodenervation codes. Two chemodenervation codes are revised for next year, and a new option is added to the mix: 64612 (Chemodenervation of muscle[s]; muscle[s] innervated by facial nerve, unilateral [e.g., for blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm]) is now clearly identified as a unilateral code. For [...]