S24.9XXA — Injury of unspecified nerve of thorax, initial encounter
ICD-10-CM
Prior Authorization
No Prior Auth Required
Code is covered without prior authorization (high confidence)
Documentation Required
- All documentation must be maintained in the patient's medical record, be legible, include appropriate patient identification (e.g., full name, dates of service), and be available to the contractor upon request.
- The medical record must identify the physician or non-physician practitioner responsible for and providing the care.
- The submitted medical record must support the selected diagnosis code(s) and the submitted CPT/HCPCS code must accurately describe the service performed.
- Medical records must be maintained and available upon request; every page must be legible and include patient identification (e.g., full name, dates of service) and identify the physician or non-physician practitioner responsible for care.
Key Coverage Criteria
- Regional or local nerve blocks performed as part of an operative procedure (e.g., adjunct to or sole means of regional/local anesthesia for the procedure) are not affected by this non-coverage policy and may be billed as anesthesia for the operative procedure.
- Regional or local nerve blocks performed as an adjunct to, or as the sole means of, regional/local anesthesia for an operative procedure are not affected by this noncoverage policy (i.e., such intraoperative regional/local anesthesia is allowed).
- No specific coverage indications are stated in this billing/coding guideline; refer to Local Coverage Determination L37641 for covered indications for continuous peripheral nerve blocks (CPNB).
- NC-stat testing (CPT 95905) is allowed when the beneficiary has a high pre-test or prior probability of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), limited to one service per arm.
- Use CPT 95870 for sampling muscles other than the paraspinals associated with the extremities that have been tested.
- Nerve conduction studies (NCS) are indicated for localization of focal neuropathies or compressive lesions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar neuropathies, and nerve root lesions.
8 Active Policies
L35098 — Nerve Conduction Studies and Electromyography
J06
A57668 — Billing and Coding: Nerve Conduction Studies and Electromyography
J06
A56607 — Billing and Coding: Continuous Peripheral Nerve Blocks (CPNB)
L35456 — Nerve Blockade for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Neuropathy
L35457 — Nerve Blockade for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Neuropathy
Related Codes
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