Correction:
Save Margin Distinction for Biopsy
Published on Mon Oct 12, 2009
You Be the Coder, "Don't Sell Yourself short on Margin Exam" (Pathology/Lab Coding Alert, Vol. 10, No. 9), asked how to code a lumpectomy with separately submitted margins. The answer advised: "Because the pathologist grossly determines that the lumpectomy margins are not clear, he might not perform (and note in the pathology report) microscopic margin evaluation. If that is the case, you should code the lumpectomy as 88305 (Level IV -- Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, breast, biopsy, not requiring microscopic evaluation of surgical margins)." Correct coding: You should code the lumpectomy as 88307 (Level V -- Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, breast, mastectomy -- partial/simple). Why: Code 88307 includes two breast specimens: the partial mastectomy listed above, and "Breast, excision of lesion, requiring microscopic evaluation of surgical margins." Although lumpectomy usually involves margin evaluation, the margin exam is not a "condition" for the partial mastectomy specimen as it is for [...]
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