Can you charge for lidocaine?
Also question is, can you bill for lidocaine?
This means that code 90772 [Therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic injection (specify substance or drug); subcutaneous or intramuscular] is the correct code. To bill for lidocaine, report J3490 [Unclassified drugs]. Lidocaine would be included as a supply with code 58999 and therefore not separately billable.
In this regard, is lidocaine separately billable?
Answer: Physicians commonly use lidocaine as an anesthetic during nerve blocks or joint or soft tissue injections, but that doesn't make it billable. HCPCS deleted the code for lidocaine in 2005 and payers currently consider lidocaine inclusive to the injection and not separately billable.
Answer: You may assign one of two codes for this drug either HCPCS code J2000 (injection, lidocaine HCl, 50 cc) or J3490 (unclassified drugs). The injection of anesthetic is considered bundled into the procedure. For this reason, most practices do not bill for this drug.