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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Reader Question:

88314 Parallels Specimen Number

Published on Sat Oct 09, 2010

Question: Our pathologist receives 11 to 14 muscle and nerve biopsy specimens and performs frozen section histochemical staining on each. Can we bill 88314 multiple times?Iowa SubscriberAnswer: Yes, you can bill multiple units of +88314 (Special stains; histochemical staining with frozen section[s], including interpretation and report [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) if the pathologist evaluates the stain on multiple specimens.In your example of muscle and nerve biopsies, you should report 88305 (Level IV -- Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, muscle, biopsy or nerve, biopsy) times the number of specimens your pathologist individually evaluates and diagnoses. If the pathologist performs a special histochemical frozen section stain on each of 11 biopsies, you should list +88314 x 11.The unit of service for +88314 is the same as other special stain -- one unit for each unique stain on each separate specimen.For instance, if the pathologist ran a Congo red, periodic [...]
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