Correct coding in interventional pain management

The National Correct Coding Council (NCCC) was created by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) in 1996 to help ensure that providers across various jurisdictions receive like payment for the same services, use the same codes and provide similar documentation for services performed. The Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) was a direct outgrowth of the NCCC's, the purpose of which was to identify and isolate inappropriate coding, unbundling, and other irregularities in coding. To avoid inappropriate or incorrect coding and billing in interventional pain management, it is imperative that interventional pain physicians and their staff be familiar with correct coding policies, as well as understand the meaning of Current Procedural Terminology, along with comprehensive codes, component codes, and mutually exclusive codes. This review describes CCI and various correct coding policies specifically relevant to interventional pain medicine. In addition, certain commonly used codes of interventional techniques are also described with implications of comprehensive, component, and mutually exclusive coding terminology.