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Practice Policy Guidelines
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January 2010 - Volume 26
Sensory Pain Fiber Electrodiagnostic (EDX) Medicine Guidelines
Pain and other sensory disorders, especially spine related pain, make up the second largest group of patients seeking medical consultation. The expenditure for treatment of chronic pain and failed neck and back surgeries is staggering. Back pain alone is estimated to have a total annual cost of over $100 billion. Recently, methods have been developed to directly assess the nerve fibers transmitting pain, allowing earlier positive outcomes and reduced cost. These guidelines represent the expert consensus by physicians certified in pain fiber electrodiagnosis. The purposes include prevention of over utilization, confusion and misconceptions by third-party payers, and clarification of coding.
FAQ - AASEM pf-NCS Practice Guidelines
Sensory Pain Fiber Electrodiagnostic (EDX) Medicine Guidelines
1. Who performs electrodiagnostic examinations?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #17, #18, #19
2. The pf-NCS is not a Quantitative Sensory Test (QST)
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #54
3. Is the pf-NCS a sensory nerve conduction threshold (sNCT) test?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #52, #53
4. Is the pf-NCS Investigational?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #49
5. Needle EMG must be performed with NCS?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #23
6. NCS must include velocity, latency testing?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #35, #36, #51
7. Handheld device?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #51
8. 95904 Is the correct code for the pf-NCS?
Answer: AASEM Practice Guidelines: Paragraph #15, #34, #35, #36
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