Reader Questions:
EMG That Patient Can't Complete
Published on Sat Oct 10, 2009
Question: We had a patient today who came in for an EMG of the left arm. The patient was unable to finish the EMG and got only partway through the test. The patient would like to come back to finish the EMG at a later date. How should we bill for this? Montana Subscriber Answer: Code 95870 (Needle electromyography; limited study of muscles in one extremity or non-limb [axial] muscles [unilateral or bilateral], other than thoracic paraspinal, cranial nerve supplied muscles, or sphincters) is to be used to report limited EMG tests. Furthermore, per the February 2004 CPT Assistant, code 95870 was created to include the following three different kinds of limited needle EMG studies: • Needle EMG study of a limb or limbs that does not meet the criteria that allow use of 95860 (Needle electromyography; one extremity with or without related paraspinal areas), 95861 (... 2 extremities ...), [...]
