Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Garner $22 more pay for amplified probe identification. Reporting additional studies for culture typing just got more exact. Starting Jan. 1 you'll have new and revised codes to report molecular techniques that your lab performs to classify an isolate beyond the level of  presumptive and definitive identification. Benefit: The new codes will help you capture pay for culture typing techniques using amplified DNA or RNA probes or nucleic acid sequencing methods. Bring In More Pay for Amplified Probe Prior to Jan. 1, you had one code to report culture typing by nucleic acid probe,and it didn't distinguish between direct and amplified probes: 87149 (Culture, typing; identification by nucleic acid probe). CPT 2010 revises 87149 to clarify that it describes a direct probe technique, and adds new code 87150 for amplified probe technique. The 2010 codes are as follows: • 87149 -- Culture, typing; identification by nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) probe, [...]