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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

You Be the Coder ~ Use Most Specific Interpretation Code

Published on Thu Jul 19, 2007

Question: When our pathologist interprets and reports/discusses with a physician the results of a test such as peripheral blood smear, bone marrow aspiration or fine needle aspiration, should we report a consultation code such as 80500?

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Answer: No, you should not report 80500 (Clinical pathology consultation; limited, without review of patient's history and medical records) for the services you describe.

CPT provides more specific codes for interpreting and reporting results of peripheral blood smear, bone marrow aspiration and fine needle aspiration (FNA). You should always report the most specific code available to describe the service.

Instead of 80500, use the following codes to report your pathologist's interpretation and report:

- 85060 -- Blood smear, peripheral, interpretation by physician with written report

- 85097 -- Bone marrow, smear interpretation

- 88173 -- Cytopathology, evaluation of fine needle aspirate; interpretation and report.
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