Know the best diagnosis and injection codes.
In case your neurologist or pain specialist administers greater occipital nerve blocks, don't allow coding turn into a headache. Confirm specifics about the patient's headache as well as the service your provider provided to pin down the accurate diagnosis and procedure codes each time. Read this neurology billing and coding expert insight and know what neurology CPT codes apply in such a scenario.
Location of the Occipital Nerve
The greater occipital nerve (GON) starts from the subsequent medial branch of the C2 spinal nerve and supplies sensory innervations to the posterior area of the scalp going to the top of the head. Physicians normally inject the GON at the point of the superior nuchal line which exists just above the bottom of the skull for occipital headaches or neck pain.
Tip: Some physician practices have a little illustration in the chart that the physician can mark with a range of injection sites. Counting this type of tool helps your physician unmistakably document the injection location, which further helps you select the correct nerve injection neurology CPT code as well as submit more accurate claims.
Kind of Headache
Your physician's documentation may have notes covering "occipital headache" to "occipital neuralgia" to "cervicogenic headache." Your job is to make certain that you interpret the notes and then assign the most precise diagnosis.
Occipital headache: ICD-9's alphabetic index does not contain a definite listing meant for occipital headache. Owing to this, you should report the general code 784.0 (Headache), which involves "Pain in head NOS." Further details in your provider's notes may result in diagnoses like 307.81 (Tension headache), 339.00 (Cluster headaches), 339.1x (Tension type headache), or 346.xx (Migraine).
Occipital neuralgia: You have certainly a more definite diagnosis to code when your provider documents occipital neuralgia. Greater occipital neuralgia lead to an aching, burning, or hammering pain or sensation a tingling or numbness all along the back of the head. You'll, in such a case, report diagnosis 723.8 (Other syndromes affecting cervical region).
Cervicogenic headache: The alphabetic index doesn't involve a listing requiring coders to reassess a definite ICD-9 code . A lot of coders report 784.0 (Headache) because of lack of a better option.
Handling Bilateral Injections
Once your provider administers bilateral GON injections, confirm the patient's insurance company prior to completing your claim.
Reason: A lot of Medicare contractors need you to report bilateral procedures as simply a single line item along with a single unit of service as well as modifier 50 (Bilateral procedure) appended. Private payers, though, regularly need two lines for bilateral claims:
In case your neurologist or pain specialist administers greater occipital nerve blocks, don't allow coding turn into a headache. Confirm specifics about the patient's headache as well as the service your provider provided to pin down the accurate diagnosis and procedure codes each time. Read this neurology billing and coding expert insight and know what neurology CPT codes apply in such a scenario.
Location of the Occipital Nerve
The greater occipital nerve (GON) starts from the subsequent medial branch of the C2 spinal nerve and supplies sensory innervations to the posterior area of the scalp going to the top of the head. Physicians normally inject the GON at the point of the superior nuchal line which exists just above the bottom of the skull for occipital headaches or neck pain.
Tip: Some physician practices have a little illustration in the chart that the physician can mark with a range of injection sites. Counting this type of tool helps your physician unmistakably document the injection location, which further helps you select the correct nerve injection neurology CPT code as well as submit more accurate claims.
Kind of Headache
Your physician's documentation may have notes covering "occipital headache" to "occipital neuralgia" to "cervicogenic headache." Your job is to make certain that you interpret the notes and then assign the most precise diagnosis.
Occipital headache: ICD-9's alphabetic index does not contain a definite listing meant for occipital headache. Owing to this, you should report the general code 784.0 (Headache), which involves "Pain in head NOS." Further details in your provider's notes may result in diagnoses like 307.81 (Tension headache), 339.00 (Cluster headaches), 339.1x (Tension type headache), or 346.xx (Migraine).
Occipital neuralgia: You have certainly a more definite diagnosis to code when your provider documents occipital neuralgia. Greater occipital neuralgia lead to an aching, burning, or hammering pain or sensation a tingling or numbness all along the back of the head. You'll, in such a case, report diagnosis 723.8 (Other syndromes affecting cervical region).
Cervicogenic headache: The alphabetic index doesn't involve a listing requiring coders to reassess a definite ICD-9 code . A lot of coders report 784.0 (Headache) because of lack of a better option.
Handling Bilateral Injections
Once your provider administers bilateral GON injections, confirm the patient's insurance company prior to completing your claim.
Reason: A lot of Medicare contractors need you to report bilateral procedures as simply a single line item along with a single unit of service as well as modifier 50 (Bilateral procedure) appended. Private payers, though, regularly need two lines for bilateral claims:
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About the Editor: Leigh DeLozier, BS, CPC, moved from the world of hospital public relations to writing Specialty Alerts in the year 1999. She launched the Anesthesia Coding Specialty Alert and is presently the editor for three other publications including Neurology and Pain Management Coding Alert, Family Practice Coding Alert, and Anesthesia Coding Alert. She has written for pain management, pulmonology, oncology, and other specialties along the way. Leigh re-launched newsletters for podiatry and dermatology in 2009.
She became a Certified Professional Coder® (CPC®) through the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) in 2002.
