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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

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Distinguish 'Specimen' Vs. 'Site' for Touch Preps

Published on Mon Apr 09, 2012

Question: If our pathologist performs intra-operative touch preps on two separate breast biopsies, one from the left and one from the right breast, should we report 88333x2 or 88333 and 88334?California SubscriberAnswer: You should bill the pathologist's two touch preps in this case as 88333 (Pathology consultation during surgery; cytologic examination [e.g., touch prep, squash prep], initial site) x2.Recognize 'specimen': Your case involves two distinct specimens: a right breast biopsy and a left breast biopsy. Code 88333 describes the initial touch prep for a unique specimen. Because you have two distinct specimens, you should code 88333 for the first touch prep from each specimen.On the other hand, +88334 (... cytologic examination [e.g., touch prep, squash prep], each additional site [List separately in addition to code for primary procedure]) describes a touch prep from an additional site (location) from the same specimen. For example: If the pathologist consulted on a single [...]
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