Physicians use many different techniques to alleviate pain in the small joints located in pairs on the back of the spine, so it's easy to get confused when coding facet injections and facet nerve destructions. Here are three mistakes I see most often during compliance audits:

• under- or over-reporting additional levels;
• not billing fluoroscopy use appropriately; and
• reporting multiple injections for the same level.

This article, and the five-question quiz on the next page, will help clear the confusion.