Otolaryngology Coding Alert
Submit 31570 for Botox Via Laryngoscope
Question: I have a Medicare patient that one of our surgeons injected with Botox for spasmodic dysphonia. He billed out CPT® code 64613, which I believe is an incorrect code since he did this procedure with a flexible laryngoscope and injected the Botox in that manner. What’s the correct way to code the procedure?
Answer: Begin with the correct diagnosis of 478.79 (Other diseases of larynx) for spasmodic dysphonia.
Maine Subscriber
You are correct that the physician is incorrectly planning to bill 64613 (Chemodenervation of muscle[s]; neck muscle[s] [e.g., for spasmodic torticollis, spasmodic dysphonia]) for the procedure.64613 is used if the Botox is injected into the larynx via a percutaneous approach. Because he used a laryngoscope for visualization and injection administration, the appropriate choice is 31570 (Laryngoscopy, direct, with injection into vocal cord[s], therapeutic). Also report J0585 (Injection, Onabotulinumtoxina, 1 unit) on a separate line with a notation of the number of units injected. On a third line, report J0585 with the number of units wasted.
Otolaryngology Coding Alert
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