Radiology Coding Alert

Answer: Yes, code 76942 (ultrasonic guidance for needle placement [e.g., for biopsy, needle aspiration, injection, or placement of localization device], radiological supervision and interpretation) is the appropriate code to assign for the radiological supervision and interpretation (RS&I) affiliated with ultrasonic guidance for needle biopsy. If you are billing for the global service (i.e., professional and technical components), you would code 76942 without a modifier. If you are billing for the RS&I professional component only, attach modifier -26 (professional component) to 76942. Either way, you would use this code in addition to the biopsy code corresponding to the anatomical site concerned (e.g., 47000, biopsy of liver, needle; percutaneous).