# Billing for venipunctures



## VeronicaAC1 (Jul 18, 2011)

Hello...our group has never billed 3 separate venipunctures when doing a 3-hr glucose in the office  but have recently been told we can and should bill for all 3. Is this correct? Will insurance pay for all 3 sticks on same date?  It would not be worth it if I have to constantly appeal. Thank you in advance. Veronica


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## btadlock1 (Jul 18, 2011)

VeronicaAC1 said:


> Hello...our group has never billed 3 separate venipunctures when doing a 3-hr glucose in the office  but have recently been told we can and should bill for all 3. Is this correct? Will insurance pay for all 3 sticks on same date?  It would not be worth it if I have to constantly appeal. Thank you in advance. Veronica



*IF* the venipunctures are covered by the payer, you should be able to bill them. That's a pretty big 'if', though - many payers will consider them incidental to the labs. It varies a lot (sometimes it can vary from group to group, like with Blue Cross). Check your payers' policies and procedures. The reimbursement on 36415 is really low, so I agree that appealing denials is probably not cost-effective. We bill it out when we do it, and if it pays, it pays, but if it denies, we write it off. Hope that helps!


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