tci Part B Insider - 2010 Issue 35

Reader Questions: 'Diagnostic' and 'Therapeutic' Defined

Question:Can you explain the difference between "diagnostic" and "therapeutic" injections or nerve blocks? How does the provider decide which to do?Answer: Physicians use diagnostic nerve blocks to determine sources of the patient's pain. These blocks typically contain an anesthetic with a known duration of relief. Therapeutic nerve blocks contain local anesthetic to control acute pain, once the physician confirms the source and cause of discomfort. Most CPT section heads for injection or nerve block codes mention "diagnostic or therapeutic." The codes often cover both situations, which means you could possibly report the same code for both diagnostic...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci Part B Insider.


Keep pace with evolving Medicare regulations with timely analysis of critical updates interpreted in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-apply format. Your subscription to TCI’s Part B Insider will equip you to navigate code and guideline changes, CCI edits, and revisions to modifiers, the fee schedule, OIG target areas, and more.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 4800 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 2003 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles

This feature is currently unavailable for online purchase. For more information, please call 801-770-4203 or Contact Us.

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.