Wiki Back Pain

[katielynnwoods]

I have a provider that doucmented "back pain at neck, thoracic and lumbar."

He is using 724.5, but another coder in my office is wanting to use 723.1 724.01 and 724.2 any suggestions on how this should be billed?

 

[erjones147]

Did you mean 724.1 (vs. 724.01)?

 

[LeslieJ]

With the exception of 724.01 (I think erjones is right, prob meant 724.1 for thoracic pain), the other coder may be right.

724.5 Backache, unspecified
Vertebrogenic (pain) syndrome NOS

If the physician is talking about a pain arising from the vertebral column, this may be the correct code. Otherwise 724.5 is a non-specific code.

However, if mentioning each part of the spine specifically, then it may be appropriate to use the more specific codes mentioned by the other coder:

724.2 - pain in the lumbar spine
723.1 - pain in the cervical spine or neck
724.1 - pain in the thoracic spine.

Query your doctor to find out his/her intentions whenever you're not sure - sometimes they don't quite know what we coders go through until they see for themselves.