Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: What CPT® code should we submit for a Pap smear?Rhode Island Subscriber Answer: Your code choice depends on whether the patient is covered by Medicare and whether the physician collects the Pap smear for screening or diagnostic purposes. For Medicare patients, you can code for obtaining a screening specimen by reporting HCPCS code Q0091 (Screening Papanicolaou smear; obtaining, preparing and conveyance of cervical or vaginal smear to laboratory). Typically, the physician collects the Pas smear in conjunction with a screening pelvic and breast examination, which may be separately reported to Medicare with HCPCS code G0101 (Cervical or vaginal cancer screening; pelvic and clinical breast examination). Explanation: CPT®'s Pap smear codes, such as 88175 (Cytopathology, cervical or vaginal [any reporting system], collected in preservative fluid, automated thin layer preparation; with screening by automated system and manual rescreening or review, under physician supervision), represent the pathologist's interpretation work. CPT® does not [...]