Provistas Welcomes Giovanni Sorrentino to SpeedECoder Sales Team

October 19th, 2009

With extensive sales and customer service experience, Giovanni Sorrentino is the latest addition to the SpeedECoder sales team.  “I’m excited to join Provistas. Due to its uniqueness and quality, SpeedECoder is definitely the solution for any healthcare professional, who needs coding information quickly and accurately. I look forward to being here any time for our clients,” explained Mr. Sorrentino.

Laura Foxall, Director of Software Sales, says, “With the exciting new features recently added to SpeedECoder and so many in the works, we are happy to have one more advocate for our outstanding coding product.”

SpeedECoder Gets a Facelift

September 21st, 2009

We are happy to unveil and updated SpeedECoder today. While none of the features of SpeedECoder have changed, we have implemented a new more navigable and cleaner look.

The update to the application pages is echoed in our new marketing pages. We focus on the audiences that have benefitted from SpeedECoder and highlight our special differences like custom development, rebranded portals, and XML integration.

We’d love to get your feedback about the new look.  We hope you are excited as we are.

Appropriate Use of Modifier 50 and Add-On Codes for Facet Joint Injections Services

September 21st, 2009

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted a medical record review of facet joint injection services performed in 2006 and released report OEI-05-07-00200, “Medicare Payments for Facet Joint Injection Services.” Overall, the OIG found that physicians incorrectly billed add-on codes to represent bilateral facet joint injections instead of using modifier 50.

Facet joints are joints in the spine that aid stability and allow the spine to bend and twist. Facet joint injections are a type of interventional pain management technique used to diagnose or treat back pain. The CPT codes used for facet joint injections are:

CPT Code – Description

64470 – Injection; anesthetic agent and/or steroid, paravertebral facet joint or facet joint nerve; cervical/thoracic; single level
64472 (add-on) – Injection; anesthetic agent and/or steroid; paravertebral facet joint or facet joint nerve; cervical/thoracic; each additional level

64475 – Injection; anesthetic agent and/or steroid; paravertebral facet joint or facet joint nerve; lumbar/sacral; single level
64476 (add-on) – Injection; anesthetic agent and/or steroid; paravertebral facet joint or facet joint nerve; lumbar/sacral; each additional level

Bilateral injections are performed on the right and left sides of one joint level. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires physicians to indicate a bilateral injection by using billing modifier 50 and the appropriate CPT code. If a physician performs multiple bilateral injections, modifier 50 should accompany each facet joint injection CPT code. When facet joint injections are performed at more than one level, physicians must use add-on codes 64472 or 64476 to represent additional levels of the spine injected.

The official instruction may be viewed at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Transmittals/downloads/R1786CP.pdf.