Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Question: Our physician did nerve conduction studies and also performed EMG for many muscles on the extremities and the mid lumbar and cervical paraspinal muscles. How can we report this?

New York Subscriber

Answer: When your physician does electromyography (EMG) along with nerve conduction studies (95900-95904), report the EMG with add-on codes, depending upon the testing of extremities or axial muscles:

• +95885 (Needle electromyography, each extremity, with related paraspinal areas, when performed, done with nerve conduction, amplitude and latency/velocity study; limited [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure])
• +95886 (Needle electromyography, each extremity, with related paraspinal areas, when performed, done with nerve conduction, amplitude and latency/velocity study; complete, five or more muscles studied, innervated by three or more nerves or four or more spinal levels [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure])
• +95887 (Needle electromyography, non-extremity [cranial nerve supplied or axial] muscle[s] done with nerve conduction, amplitude and latency/velocity study [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]).

Submit +95885 or +95886 depending upon the number of muscles tested in an extremity. If the neurologist tests 5 or more muscles in a single extremity, then you would report 1 unit of +95886. If the neurologist tests less than five muscles in a single extremity, then you would report 1 unit of +95887.

You report code +95885 or +95886 once per extremity. You can report codes +95885 and +95886 up to a combined total of four units of service per patient when all four extremities are tested.

Remember that these extremity EMG codes include testing of the related paraspinal areas, i.e. cervical paraspinal muscles for upper extremity testing and lumbar paraspinal muscles for the lower extremity testing. You would not separately report EMG testing of these paraspinal muscles when performed as part of the extremity EMG diagnostic testing.