The American Medical Association's CPT 2017 Codebook included the first endoscopic spinal surgery code no. 62380.
Here are six things to know:
1. The new code covers endoscopic decompression of the spinal cord, nerve root, including laminotomy, partial facetectomy, foraminotomy, discectomy and/or excision of herniated intervertebral disc, 1 interspace and lumbar.
2. It will be enacted on Jan. 1, 2017.
3. joimax, a Karlsruhe, Germany-based developer of endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery systems, applauds this code addition.
4. Under this new spinal surgery code, joimax's specific transforaminal and/or interlaminar procedures will be fully covered in the United States.
5. Already marketed in 45 countries, joimax's TESSYS and iLESSYS decompression procedures will now be covered.
6. joimax Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries commented the addition of this new code is a "major milestone towards the acceptance of endoscopic minimally invasive spine surgery."