Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: Can I report 76005-26 with 62290?

South Carolina Subscriber Answer: You'll almost always perform a fluoroscopy as a component of a diskography. Therefore, the correct way to report the services you describe is with 72295 (Diskography, lumbar, radiological supervision and interpretation) and 62290 (Injection procedure for diskography, each level; lumbar), or 72285 (Diskography, cervical or thoracic, radiological supervision and interpretation) and 62291 (Injection procedure for diskography, each level; cervical or thoracic), depending on the spinal levels the neurologist targets.
 
Remember: You shouldn't report 76005-26 (Fluoroscopic guidance and localization of needle or catheter tip for spine or paraspinous diagnostic or therapeutic injection procedures [epidural, transforaminal epidural, subarachnoid, paravertebral facet joint, paravertebral facet joint nerve or sacroiliac joint], including neurolytic agent destruction; professional component) along with 72295 for the same procedure, according to the National Correct Coding Initiative, effective July 1, 2001. NCCI considers the fluoroscopic guidance (76005) a component code or bundled into the diskography radiologic supervision and interpretation code (either 72285 or 72295).