Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Unit of service is payment key.One new code gives labs a way to report drug screens by multiple drug class methods that aren't chromatographic -- a gap that labs couldn't account for in the past.That's only true if you're not billing Medicare. Last month you learned how to bill drug screens to Medicare payers in "G0431, G0434 Encompass Medicare Drug Screens" (Vol. 12, No. 3 of Pathology/Lab Coding Alert). This month we'll show you how to maneuver just three CPT codes to get paid for your lab's drug screening tests for payers other than Medicare.'Method' Leads Your ChoiceYou'll find two existing codes and one new code for drug screenings in CPT 2011, as follows: 80100 -- Drug screen, qualitative; multiple drug classes chromatographic method, each procedure80101 -- ... single drug class method (e.g., immunoassay, enzyme assay), each drug class80104 (new) --... multiple drug classes other than chromatographic method, each procedure.You should choose between [...]