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Coding Corner Question: October

  |  Issue: October 2014  |  

Facet Joint Injection Coding Scenario

An established 68-year-old male patient with osteoarthritis of the lumbar region without myelopathy returns to the office for a scheduled paravertebral facet joint nerve injection. The patient is currently on an NSAID and ranitidine, and also takes glucosamine-chondroitin. He reports having pain, stiffness and swelling in his lower lumbar vertebrae and denies any other complaints. Two facet paravertebral injections on L3–L4 and L4–L5 of the lumbar with intraarticular corticosteroid injection are performed; 40 mg of methylprednisolone sodium succinate was used for each injection. Fluoroscopic guidance was used for supervision of the needle placement.

How would this be coded?

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