tci Outpatient Facility Coding Alert - 2013 Issue 7

Spinal Coding: Remember This Tip When Coding Bone Biopsies With Vertebroplasty

Your code choice depends on one location detail. If your surgeon performed a bone biopsy with vertebroplasty, you’ll need to know how to report it and what to do if the vertebroplasty and biopsy are at the same level. Follow the examples below to strengthen your vertebroplasty reporting this year. Remember the Code Descriptor Change Prior to 2012, you could include bone biopsy code 20225 (Biopsy, bone, trocar, or needle; deep [eg, vertebral body, femur]) if your surgeon completed the biopsy at the same spinal level as the vertebroplasty. That’s no longer the case. Vertebroplasty codes were...

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