Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Rarely used; gone for good?Remember those two-place genetic testing modifiers that first appeared in CPT Appendix I in 2005? Neither does anyone else, apparently.Despite the modifiers' availability for seven years, most payers and labs never adopted them. "We never used the modifiers, even though CPT continued to update them with additions such as new human-leukocyte antigen (HLA) modifiers in 2011," says Diana Voorhees, MA, CLS, MT(ASCP)SH, CLCP, principal at DV & Associates Inc., in Salt Lake City.Know the Back StoryDeveloped by the Genetic Testing Workgroup chaired by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the system allows up to 260 two-place modifiers -- one digit (0-9) followed by one letter (A-Z). The first position designates broad groups of molecular tests, such as 2 for neoplasia/lymphoid tests and 5 for neurologic genetic tests. "The modifiers were supposed to be a Band-Aid® for some years until a coding system could be developed," Voorhees says. [...]