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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Cut Losses for Lymph Node 'Scrape'

Published on Thu Dec 06, 2012

Question: Our pathologist cuts a lymph node, then touches slides to each half, and stains and interprets the slides (touch prep). The pathologist then takes a blade and scrapes each cut surface to release cells which were too cohesive to come off on the touch prep, again touching each scraped surface to slides for stain and interpretation (scrape prep). Can we bill for both the touch preps and the scrape preps? New York Subscriber Answer: You should not individually bill both touch preps and "scrape preps" in this case, because they're from the same site. You should code this case as 88161 (Cytopathology, smears, any other source; preparation, screening and interpretation). Notice that the definition involves "smears" (multiple) from a single source (specimen). Opportunity: If the case involves more than five slides or multiple stains, you can bill 88162 (Cytopathology, smears, any other source; extended study involving over 5 slides [...]
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