Orthopedic Coding Alert

You can report the professional component for your surgeon's services.If your surgeon performs vertebroplasties, a refresher on how to report radiological assistance your surgeon utilized will help you ace these claims. (For more on coding biopsies with vertebroplasties, see Orthopedic Coding Alert, Vol.15 No.3).Know When to Append Modifier 26When doing a percutaneous vertebroplasty, your surgeon will use imaging for positioning the needle or to assess the injection technique. You report the radiological supervision with codes 72291 (Radiological supervision and interpretation, percutaneous vertebroplasty, vertebral augmentation, or sacral augmentation [sacroplasty], including cavity creation, per vertebral body or sacrum; under fluoroscopic guidance) or 72292 (Radiological supervision and interpretation, percutaneous vertebroplasty, vertebral augmentation, or sacral augmentation [sacroplasty], including cavity creation, per vertebral body or sacrum; under CT guidance) depending upon whether your surgeon uses computed tomography (CT) instead of fluoroscopic guidance. You append modifier 26 (Professional component) if the procedure is performed in a [...]