Pain Management Coding Alert
Get Anatomy Right on Finger Arthroplasties
Question: Notes indicate that the PM physician performed arthroplasty of a patient’s finger joint. What is the correct code for this service? Minnesota Subscriber Answer: The correct code will depend on two questions: When the provider performs arthroplasty on a patient’s metacarpophalangeal joint, you’ll report 26530 (Arthroplasty, metacarpophalangeal joint; each joint) for each joint he injects. If the shots include a prosthetic implant, then choose 25631 (… with prosthetic implant, each joint) instead. When the provider performs arthroplasty on a patient’s interphalangeal joint, you’ll report 26535 ( Arthroplasty, interphalangeal joint; each joint) for each joint he injects. If the shots include a prosthetic implant, then choose 25636 ( … with prosthetic implant, each joint) instead.
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