Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Massachusetts Subscriber
 
 Answer: Only the lab pathologist can bill for the interpretation unless your physician has the Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act (CLIA) clearance to do the official interpretation. When the results come back, your physician will review the result supplied by others, which is an element of medical decision-making. Codes 88141-88142 (cytopathology, cervical or vaginal [any reporting system] ...) are used only by the pathologist who is the official interpreter, not the doctor who ordered the Pap and collected the specimen. The same is true of the Medicare P3000 series: These are reported by the lab handling the specimen, not by the physician. In most cases, the ob/gyn would report the Pap as part of the E/M preventive medicine visit, 99385-99387.

 

 -- Answers to You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided by Melanie Witt, RN, CPC, MA, an independent coding consultant and ob/gyn coding expert based in Fredericksburg, Va.