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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Reader Question:

99360 May Compensate Frozen Section Standby

Published on Mon Oct 10, 2011

Question: Our pathologists sometimes "standby" during surgery to perform intraoperative consults for high-risk cases that occur outside their normal work hours. They want to code for their time, and we want to use 99360. How should they document their time to be able to charge 99360?Texas SubscriberAnswer: CMS and many other payers don't pay for 99360 (Physician standby service, requiring prolonged physician attendance, each 30 minutes [e.g., operative standby, standby for frozen section, for cesarean/high risk delivery, for monitoring EEG]), so your pathologist may not be able to charge for standby time.Some payers might pay on 99360, however. If a third party payer does reimburse for 99360, then be sure the pathologist has documented the standby service with something such as: I was requested by [DOCTOR'S NAME] to be on standby for frozen section and intraoperative consult for surgery performed on [PATIENT'S NAME] on [DATE]. I arrived at the facility [...]
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