Coverage Decisions for Medical Technologies & Procedures

Dry needling

Coverage decision

L&I covers dry needling of trigger points. It should be billed using the trigger point injection CPT™ codes 20552 or 20553. Dry needling follows the same rules as trigger point injections in WAC 296-20-03001(14).

Dry needling is considered a variant of trigger point injections with medications. It is a technique where needles are inserted (no medications are injected) directly into trigger point locations, as opposed to the distant points or meridians used in acupuncture.

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