Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: I've always billed multiple anatomic pathology services (such as 88300, 88305, 88307) with modifier 59, but it was brought to my attention that these codes aren't bundled. What is the current guideline for using modifier 59 with multiple anatomic pathology codes? California Subscriber Answer: You are correct that Medicare's Correct Coding Initiative(CCI) doesn't bundle the anatomic pathology codes 88300-88309. If the pathologist performs multiple pathology exams on multiple specimens for the same patient on the same date, with proper documentation, you can bill for each procedure without modifiers and expect full pay. In your example, you could bill 88300 (Level I - Surgical pathology, gross examination only), 88305 (Level IV - Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination), and 88307 (Level V - Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination) without modifiers if the pathologist examined three distinct specimens, one at each of the service levels listed. For example, if the pathologist [...]