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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

CPT® 2012:

Get All the Pay You Deserve -- Code Per Block for Special Stains

Published on Fri Jan 07, 2011

88312 unit change could earn you $107 or more.The American Medical Association (AMA) has changed its long-standing rule for reporting special stains per specimen, instead aiming at the "block" as the unit of service. With a series of text notes in CPT® 2012, the AMA closes the gap on a troubling payer discrepancy in how to code for these services."The AMA now advises that the unit of service for special stains focuses on the block, rather than the specimen, which comports with Medicare policy," says Dennis Padget, MBA, CPA, FHFMA, president of DLPadget Enterprises Inc. and publisher of the Pathology Service Coding Handbook, in The Villages, Fla.You learned about key changes to special stain codes -- such as the new designation for Group III stains -- in Pathology/Lab Coding Alert Volume 12, Number 12 "88312-88319: Revamp Your Special Stain Coding for Accurate Claims." Now let our experts guide you through the unit-of-service [...]
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