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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

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FNA Includes All Slides

Published on Tue Feb 24, 2004

Question: We received a fine needle aspiration (FNA) of a breast lesion that required examination of direct smears, as well as preparation and evaluation of mono-layer slides by a system that concentrated diagnostic cells and eliminated interference from inflammatory cells. Should we report both CPT 88173 for the FNA evaluation, and new code 88112 for the thin layer preparation?

California Subscriber

Answer: No, you should not report together codes 88173 (Cytopathology, evaluation of fine needle aspirate; interpretation and report) and 88112 (Cytopathology, selective cellular enhancement technique with interpretation [e.g., liquid-based slide preparation method], except cervical or vaginal) for examination of the same specimen.

Code 88173 describes definitive interpretation of all slides prepared from a single FNA specimen, including direct smears, concentrated smears, or thin layer preparation. Just as you should not have reported 88173 with 88108 (Cytopathology, concentration technique, smears and interpretation [e.g., Saccomanno technique]) when 88108 described all non-gyn thin layer preparations, so you should not report 88173 with 88112 now that the new code describes thin layer preparations with cellular enrichment.

National Correct Coding Initiative version 10.0 added an edit pair for these codes, prohibiting reporting together 88173 and 88112 for the same specimen.

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