AMA Issues Correction to Nov 2010 CPT Assistant Regarding Fluoroscopy and Interlaminar Epidurals

When a problem was identified, ASA staff immediately took steps to correct an article that discussed fluoroscopy in The November 2010 edition of CPT Assistant (CPT® codes 76000, 76001, 77001, 77002 and 77003).  Contained in that article is a mis-statement that fluoroscopy is considered inclusive to interlaminar epidurals as described by codes 62310-62319, when in fact, it is completely appropriate to separately report any required fluoroscopic guidance with an interlaminar epidural. (NOTE:  Imaging guidance is bundled into and inclusive to facet joint injections (CPT codes 64490-64495) and transforaminal epidural injections (64479-64484)

AMA staff promptly responded to this situation.  A correction notice has been posted to the AMA website and will be included in an upcoming edition of CPT Assistant.  We recommend that practices monitor their payments for any inappropriate denials of code 77003 when reported with 62310-62319 and use this AMA update to appeal when necessary.

The correction notice is also available here.