G2 Compliance Corner

In last month’s issue, we addressed changes to the CPT codes used to bill for immunohistochemistry stains. A reader pointed out an error in the article in one of the scenarios presented to illustrate proper use of the new codes for non-Medicare patients. In the article, we made the following statement: “Thus, in 2014 for non-Medicare patients, same stain on multiple blocks (same specimen) on same date of service, you should code 88342 for the first separately identifiable antibody in a specimen or block and then 88343 for each additional antibody in additional blocks.” The reader pointed out that the 2014 CPT description used the term slides instead of blocks. The term slides must be interpreted in the context of the entire description, which includes “separately identifiable antibodies” per slide. Laboratories should understand that the unit of service is the separately identifiable antibodies, not simply the number of slides. When using cocktail stains where a single slide may include the ability to identify two or three separately identifiable antibodies, the lab may bill for all three of the antibodies. We appreciate readers taking the time to comment on our articles. Please send your questions for Compliance Corner to Christopher Young, editor, at cyoung@G2Intelligence.com.