Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Make sure you captured every specimen and ancillary service. Check your answers to the nasal specimen quick quiz found opposite. Plus, discover roughly how much you'll earn by avoiding common nasal-specimen coding errors. Answer 1: Because the surgeon separately identified, and the pathologist separately diagnosed, three distinct nasal polyp specimens, you should code this case as three units of 88304 (Level III -- Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, polyps, inflammatory -- nasal/sinusoidal). By avoiding the "plural" pitfall -- erroneously assuming that "polyps" in the CPT code descriptor means you must bundle all polyps as one specimen -- you avoid losing almost $125 for your practice (based on 2009 physician fee schedule national non-facility total global relative value units). Answer 2: You should charge this case using a single CPT code for the gross and microscopic pathology exam. Because "sinus contents" is an unlisted specimen, you'll bill this service based on the physician work [...]