Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: When we perform a decalcification in addition to the pathologist's tissue exam, can we bill the decal per block?

North Carolina Subscriber

Answer: No, you should not charge a decalcification per block. Instead, you should list +88311 (Decalcification procedure [List separately in addition to code for surgical pathology examination]) once per specimen.

Decalcification is a procedure that pathologists use to prepare calcified tissue, such as bone, for paraffin embedding and slide preparation. The decalcification is typically the first step in tissue prep, performed before subdividing the specimen into blocks/slides. The specimen size, and the number of blocks or slides made from the specimen following decalcification are not relevant to the decal unit of service. Report +88311 once per specimen that requires decalcification.

Beware add-on: Because +88311 is an add-on code, you can't report it apart from a charge for a "primary service." That means you'd expect to use +88311 in addition to a surgical pathology examination code such as 88305 (Level IV -- Surgical pathology, gross and microscopic examination, bone exostosis).