Costochondral Injection

Question:

We saw a patient who presented with chest pain and the physician diagnosed costal chondritis and the administered an injection into the costochondral junction. We are debating what CPT code to report for the injection? Is it 20550, 20600, 20605 or an unlisted code? We are considering CPT code 20600.

Answer:

Thank you for your inquiry. This is not your typical orthopaedic injection! From a CPT coding perspective, the correct code is CPT code 20605 when Ultrasound Guidance is not a component of the service. The diagnosis is M94.0 (Chondrocostal junction syndrome).

Note: This advice is based on guidance from the AMA’s CPT Knowledge Base, revised in 2015 (KB #5189). The specific Q&A is available through AMA subscription.