Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

It’s vital to know whether the procedure was diagnostic or surgical.

When patients report to the PM practice for discography or disc decompression, you need to be able to spot the claims quickly and discern what type of services the provider performed.

Check out this coding scenario from one of our experts, and bolster your knowledge ahead of your next disc decompression/discography claim.

Case: Disc Decompression

This example is from Amy C. Pritchett, BSHA, CPC, CPMA, CPCI-I, CRC, CANPC, CASCC, CEDC, CCS, CMDP, CMPM, CMRS, C-AHI, ICDCT-CM, ICDCT-PCS, past president of the American Academy of Professional Coders chapter in Mobile, Alabama.

The provider removes a small amount of the gel like substance in the middle of a spinal disc, known as nucleus pulposus. He makes a needle puncture through the skin and into the disc. Then he aspirates a small amount of disc material between two vertebrae in the lumbar region of the spine to relieve pressure on the nerves of the spine.

Coding: Report 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) for the decompression.