Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Hint: Global billing implicates pathology services. Can you ignore Medicare's laboratory date-of-service (DOS) policy if you bill for the professional component (PC) of physician pathology services? Not always. It's true that the DOS policy applies to clinical lab tests and the technical component (TC) of physician pathology services, but read on and you'll see that sometimes you have to follow the rules even if you're billing for the PC. Let the Medicare fee schedules guide you to an easy way to remember which codes are subject to the guidelines: 1. Tests paid under the clinical laboratory fee schedule (CLFS) 2. Pathology services listed with modifier TC (Technical component) on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) -- but only when you're billing the TC. Pathologists beware: Now that the lab DOS policy applies to TC of pathology (as of January this year), you can expect an impact on billing for a wide [...]