Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: The lab receives an order for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. The ordering physician does not specify symptoms but simply states, -Screening.- How should we code this?

Kansas Subscriber

 Answer: You should report the lab tests using 80061 (Lipid panel). The panel includes the three tests you described. If the physician ordered only one or two of those tests, you would report the individual code(s) for the service instead of the panel code. The individual codes are as follows:

 - 82465 -- Cholesterol, serum or whole blood, total

 - 83718 -- Lipoprotein, direct measurement; high-density cholesterol (HDL cholesterol)

 - 84478 -- Triglycerides.

 Because the physician states that the test is for screening, you should choose one of the following V codes in the absence of signs or symptoms of disease, depending on what the screening is for:

 - V81.0 -- Special screening for ischemic heart disease

 - V81.1 -- Special screening for hypertension

 - V81.2 -- Special screening for other and unspecified  cardiovascular conditions.

 The best code choice in your example would be V81.2 because the physician does not indicate exactly what the screening is for.