Orthopedic Coding Alert
Reader Questions:
Avoid Double-Dipping on TPIs
Published on Thu Oct 05, 2023
Question: A patient with trigger finger in their left index finger reports for a trigger point injection (TPI). The provider injects a single muscle twice to alleviate the trigger finger. How should I report the TPI? I was thinking 20552 x 2. Indiana Subscriber Answer: You should report 20552 (Injection(s); single or multiple trigger point(s), 1 or 2 muscle(s)), but only once. The descriptor for 20552 specifies one or two muscles injected; since the provider only injected a single muscle, the code will cover both injections. You should also append M65.322 (Trigger finger, left index finger) to 20552 to represent the patient’s injury.
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