Radiology Coding Alert

Question: We performed the following knee x-rays: a standing frontal view of both knees, bilateral sunrise views, and a lateral view of just the left knee. What codes should we report?

Tennessee Subscriber

Answer: You should break down your services according to left and right sides, rather than coding bilaterally.

You should report 73560-RT (Radiologic examination, knee; one or two views; Right side) for the right frontal and sunrise views, and 73562-LT (Radiologic examination, knee; three views; Left side) for the left frontal, sunrise and lateral views.

Reader Questions were reviewed by Gary S. Dorfman, MD, FACR, FSIR, representative to the AMA's CPT Advisory Committee.