Get Correctly Reimbursed For Your Discography

There are many different rules about bundling your medical billing claims. Some codes are included with others, while different codes can be separately reimbursed. A discography is a procedure that brings up a lot of questions. In medical billing, the question about whether or not to code per region or per disc.

This is one instance in which you may get more reimbursement than expected. The AMA (American Medical Association) states that you can report per disk when doing medical billing for a diagnostic discography. The code 72295 (Discography, lumbar, radiological supervision and interpretation) should be billed for as many disks as you treat. Even if the discography is only performed in one region, you can still get reimbursed for each disc as generally this procedure is used to locate which disc is causing symptoms of a problem.

It is also important to note that you may report the medical billing code 62290 (Injection procedure for discography, each level; lumbar) during the discography as well. By doing medical billing for this code, you will get reimbursed for the injection performed during the procedure. The medical billing code 62290 can also be billed per disc. This is a coding that is often missed and considered by many doctors to be part of the procedure when it can usually be billed as a separate procedure.

One trap in which many medical billing staff members get entangled is with the fluoroscopy. They believe that since they were able to do medical billing for each discography and injection disc that they can also bill separately for the fluoroscopy. Unfortunately 76005 (Fluoroscopic guidance and localization) procedures are included in the S&I code.

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P