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Wiki Touch preps (for adequacy only)

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mcraerobinson69@ufl.edu

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Hello,

Our reference laboratory are receiving touch preps (for adequacy only) with corresponding wet tissue. Can we charge for the touch prep even though they were not created here?

Any assistance is appreciated.
 
Touch preps are only chargeable per the CPT definition if they are performed as part of an intraoperative path consult (See 88329-88334). Since that would have been done by the hospital's pathologist on call during the actual surgery, and the tissue samples later sent to your outside reference lab, I would say no you cannot.

It's not really the touch prep creating a slide that is being charged with an 88333/4 - it is the surgical pathologist's time and effort to take an immediate sample on sight in the OR, read it, and give the surgeon a finding before s/he continues the surgery. The surgeon may need to know if there are signs of infection in the sample, or if they got all of a cancer out and that the margins are clear.

Otherwise, the way the tissue slides are prepped (touch, squash, frozen section, etc.) are inclusive to the specimen surgical exam level (88300-88309).
 
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