Eli's Rehab Report

Question: What is the appropriate code for bilateral EMG of the laryngeal muscle?

Louisiana Subscriber

Answer: The laryngeal nerves, which supply the laryngeal muscles, are branches of the 10th cranial nerve. So the appropriate code for bilateral electromyography (EMG) testing is 95868 (Needle electromyography; cranial nerve supplied muscles, bilateral). Because the code descriptor specifies "bilateral," you needn't append modifier -50 (Bilateral procedure) to 95868 to indicate the procedure was performed on both sides of the muscle. If you perform EMG testing on one side only, the appropriate code is 95867 (... cranial nerve supplied muscle[s], unilateral).