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Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Include Paraspinal Injection With PLIF Procedures

Published on Fri Nov 21, 2008

Question: I have a neurosurgeon who injected 80 mg of Depo-Medrol and 10 cc Marcaine into the paraspinal musculature on both left and right sides. He did this while performing a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). How should I code this? Nevada Subscriber Answer: You should include injections in the procedure. They are not separately billable. Note: For the PLIF, you-ll report 22630 (Arthrodesis, posterior interbody technique, including laminectomy and/or discectomy to prepare interspace [other than for decompression], single interspace; lumbar) for the PLIF on the patient's initial interspace. For additional interspaces, report +22632 ( ... each additional interspace [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]).
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