Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Key: Don't overlook the chance to report bone grafts.When your neurosurgeon performs posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF), take special care to review the documentation for details on instrumentation placement and notes on other procedures performed at the same time. If you miss these separate services, you risk lowering your reimbursement.Whether you can report laminectomy separately, however, depends on the extent of the surgeon's effort.1. Turn to 22632 for Additional InterspacesFor a standard PLIF procedure, you should report 22630 (Arthrodesis, posterior interbody technique, including laminectomy and/or diskectomy to prepare interspace [other than for decompression], single interspace; lumbar).If the surgeon treats additional interspaces beyond the first, you should report +22632 (... each additional interspace [list separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) for each additional interspace.For example, the neurosurgeon performs PLIF with diskectomy, using a structural iliac crest autograft for fusion at L4/L5 and L5/S1 interspaces. In this case, you should [...]