Ophthalmology and Optometry Coding Alert

CCI 16.0 Update:

Brace Yourself for Massive Injection Code Bundling in January

Also: CCI clarifies that eye exams are bundled into 'Welcome to Medicare' exams. You may still be poring through your 2010 CPT manual, but the new edition of Correct Coding Initiative (CCI), effective Jan. 1, could change how you report your ophthalmologist's injection procedures. The CCI released version 16.0 in early December, revealing 24,060 new active pairs and 869 modifier changes, said Frank D. Cohen, MPA, MBB, senior analyst with MIT Solutions, Inc., in a Dec. 8 announcement. One big change ophthalmology coders will notice is that CCI 16.0 bundles new spinal injection codes 64490 (Injection[s], diagnostic or therapeutic agent, paravertebral facet [zygapophyseal] joint [or nerves innervating that joint] with image guidance [fluoroscopy or CT], cervical or thoracic, single level) and 64493 (... lumbar or sacral, single level) into nearly all of the Eye and Ocular Adnexa surgery codes (65091-68899). CPT introduced the new paravertebral facet injection codes for 2010 [...]
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