Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Check with payers individually for approved, complete, Dx lists. When you’re coding for discography or disc decompression, your diagnosis coding will be vital.

Not only will the diagnosis codes paint a better picture of the patient’s condition, they also might be required for the performance of one of the discography/disc decompression codes. While individual payer policies and situations will vary, patients who require lumbar, cervical, or thoracic discography could have one of the following diagnoses.

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).