Urology Coding Alert

According to the CCI 8.3 edits, all procedures in code range 50010-58976 excluding the unlisted-procedure codes (50549, 50949, 53899, 54699, 55559, 55899, 58578, 58579, 58679 and 58999), add-on codes 56606 and 58611, and intrauterine device insertion code 58300 now include the following: 36000* Introduction of needle or intracatheter, vein 36410* Venipuncture, child over age 3 years or adult, necessitating physician's skill [separate procedure], for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Not to be used for routine venipuncture 37202 Transcatheter therapy, infusion other than for thrombolysis, any type (e.g., spasmolytic, vasocon-strictive) 62318 Injection, including catheter placement, continuous infusion or intermittent bolus, not including neurolytic substances, with or without contrast (for either localization or epidurography), of diagnostic or therapeutic substance(s) (including anesthetic, antispasmodic, opioid, steroid, other solution), epidural or subarachnoid; cervical or thoracic 62319 lumbar, sacral (caudal) 64415* Injection, anesthetic agent; brachial plexus 64417* axillary nerve 64450* other peripheral nerve or branch 64470 Injection, anesthetic agent and/or steroid, paravertebral facet joint or facet joint nerve; cervical or thoracic, single level 64475 lumbar or sacral, single level 90780 Intravenous infusion for therapy/diagnosis, administered by physician or under direct supervision of physician; up to one hour. Of the 11 codes bundled into urology-relevant CPT codes, only 90780 is occasionally used by urologists in the administration of Zometa, says Robert Smith, MD, a urologist with Urology Associates in Red Bank, N.J. But the injection of Zometa, a biophosphonate treatment for metastatic cancer to the bone, is not typically performed in conjunction with another urological procedure. In other words, this type of infusion is performed as a separate procedure or a stand-alone service in an office setting.