Pain Management Coding: TPI Do’s and Don’ts for Pay You Can Keep

Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by Editor.

Sample ICD-9 codes to support medical necessity for trigger point injections.

Counting the right items, knowing insurer-allowed diagnoses, and documenting affected muscles will get your trigger point injection (TPI) claims paid while protecting you from paybacks.

Further, knowing each insurers’ covered diagnoses for TPIs is vital to healthy coding.

√ Do Count Muscles Injected

Coders should report 20552 (Injection[s]; single or multiple trigger point[s], 1 or 2 muscles) when the internist injects one or two muscles, confirms Marvel J. Hammer, RN, CPC, CCS-P, PCS, ACS-PM, CHCO, of MJH Consulting in Denver.

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Trigger Point Injection Coding: Count Targets, Not Shots

Posted on 02. Apr, 2009 by Editor.

Become the top TPI gun in your coding department with this FAQ.

Coders who are just itching to hit the mark on their trigger point injection (TPI) claims can answer the “who, what, and why” of TPIs with this guide.

1. Who Needs TPIs?

Most patients that require TPIs are suffering from head or muscle pain.

“Trigger points might be described as knots of muscle that form when muscles do not relax. Headaches are another reason that physicians perform TPI,” explains Joanne Mehmert, CPC, CCS-P, owner of Joanne Mehmert & Associates in Kansas City.

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When your physician performs TPIs, “the most common diagnosis reported is 729.1 (Myalgia and myositis, unspecified),” according to Judith Blaszczyk RN, CPC, ACS-PM, president of Veritas Consulting in Greencastle, Pa.

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