Neurosurgery Coding Alert

Question: I was coding for a patient who had a spinal puncture, and was perusing this section of the CPT^® book. Why are the spinal puncture codes 62270 through 62239 out of numerical order? It’s a bit confusing.

Oklahoma Subscriber

Answer: Sometimes, CPT^® adds codes to a group that are out of numerical sequence. CPT^® does this when a new code is added to a family of codes, but a sequential number is unavailable.

This concept, called resequencing, is marked by a # in the left margin next to the code entry in your CPT^® manual. Resequencing is illustrated well by your question, as the codes for spinal puncture are as follows (# marks resequenced codes):

• 62270 (Spinal puncture, lumbar, diagnostic)
• #62328 (Spinal puncture, lumbar, diagnostic; with fluoroscopic or CT guidance)
• 62272 (Spinal puncture, therapeutic, for drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (by needle or catheter))
• #62329 (Spinal puncture, therapeutic, for drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (by needle or catheter); with fluoroscopic or CT guidance)

Explanation: The code set reads this way because CPT^® added 62328 and 62329 in 2020, when 62270 and 62272 were already well-established. This happens often in CPT^®, so don’t be thrown when codes are out of numerical order — especially if there’s a # beside the code.