Improving Current Procedural Terminology Coding Accuracy in Imaging-Related Musculoskeletal Interventions

THE PROBLEM A common cause of fraud and abuse in the medical system is the assignment of services with incorrect Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, leading to billing for services that were not performed or misrepresentation of the actual services that were provided [1-3]. Additionally, incorrect CPT coding has been shown to result in “undercoding” of the service provided, ultimately resulting in a loss of potential revenue [3,4]. Only a few studies have evaluated the accuracy of CPT coding for imaging-related interventions, demonstrating that CPT coding errors are commonplace [3,5]. Application of correct CPT codes is essential for physicians, regardless of experience or the coding arrangements within their practices. A general review of our coding compliance found a surprising number of monthly coding errors involving our musculoskeletal interventional service. As a section, we believed that it was important to improve our coding accuracy and chose to initiate a project with the goal of decreasing our CPT coding errors. Additionally, because the ultimate responsibility for coding accuracy rests on the radiologist, this initiative also further educated our