agomelsky@cfmcky.com
Contributor
We’ve had a question arise and I was hoping for input. We have a LabCorp employee who is stationed in our office and draws all the labs from our pregnant patients. As you’re aware, routine bloodwork is drawn throughout each trimester, that is separate from, and not related to, any other medical condition that the patient may have. The question that has been raised is this……. If , for example, a patient who is in their 3rd trimester at 35 weeks, is seen for proteinuria, the primary diagnosis code listed on our claim would be O12.13 and the secondary code would be Z3A.35. If during this visit, the patient is also due for their routine third trimester blood work, is it then appropriate to link only the labs to “normal pregnancy” diagnosis codes, such as Z34.83/ Z3A.35, in the patient’s chart? The concern is whether or not it is appropriate to have a complication code (O12.13), along with a routine code (Z34.83) in the patient’s chart, for one date of service. What are your thoughts on this? Is it conflicting to have both sets of codes listed in the patient’s chart, as these would never be billed together? Does your office handle this situation differently? Do you feel it is appropriate/correct for our office to bill one set of codes (i.e. O12.13, Z3A.35) , while the lab is billing a different set (i.e. Z34.83, Z3A.35)?