Question: When billing a breast biopsy or an excision, should we wait for a path report?
Florida Subscriber
Answer: Yes, you should. You need the path report to bill these services, because ICD-9 coding guidelines state that if the postoperative diagnosis differs from the preoperative diagnosis, you should report the postoperative diagnosis.
Some facilities want to drop the bill within 24 hours, so they are not willing to wait for the pathology report - but if you don't wait, you are likely to find yourself submitting corrected claims later. For example, if the physician thought the patient had a fibroadenoma, and the report shows that she didn't, you will have to resubmit the claim.
