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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Not Unbundling 86780 Could Get You in Hot Water Get You in Hot Water

Published on Fri Jan 15, 2010

Find a solution to surprising CPT OB panel instruction. You wouldn't think that one simple, new syphilis test code could cause so much trouble, but 86780 is doing just that. If your lab is struggling with how to report the obstetrics panel with treponemal antibody or how to code confirmatory testing, read on. Embrace Freedom from Confirmatory Restriction You'll find some good news in the new syphilis test code 86780 (Antibody; Treponema pallidum). Before CPT 2010 introduced 86780, the only treponemal antibody test code was 86781 (Antibody; Treponema pallidum, confirmatory test [e.g., FTA-abs]). Difficulty: Based on the code definition, you could only report 86781 when the physician ordered a confirmatory test following an initial syphilis test such as (86592, Syphilis test; qualitative [e.g., VDRL, RPR, ART]). But sometimes labs prefer to offer the Treponema pallidum antibody test as the initial tool for syphilis diagnosis. "Unlike tests such as the rapid [...]
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