Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: If our microbiology lab performs a vaginal smear culture on an enhancement broth for group B Strep, should we code for infectious agent concentration along with the culture for -other source-?


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Answer: No, you should not report microbiology concentration (87015, Concentration [any type], for infectious agents) for an enhancement broth. Concentration involves increasing the number of organisms per unit volume. What you-re doing is encouraging growth of a specific organism.

In fact, you should not bill the standard -other source- culture code for this procedure (87070, Culture, bacterial; any other source except urine, blood or stool, aerobic, with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates) because you are not trying to grow and identify whatever organisms are present in the vaginal smear. Rather, you are only trying to culture group B Streptococcus if it is present.

You should code that service using 87081 (Culture, presumptive, pathogenic organisms, screening only). You Be the Coder was answered by William Dettwyler, MT-AMT, president of Codus Medicus, a laboratory coding consulting firm in Salem, Ore. He addressed the topic at The Coding Institute-s Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Conference 2007 held in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 9-11. Look for more information from the conference in upcoming issues.