Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: What is the difference between 95024 and 95027 to use for reporting skin testing?

Maine Subscriber

Answer: Your main clue is whether the tests are sequential. Pulmonologists may administer 95024 (Intracutaneous [intradermal] tests with allergenic extracts, immediate type reaction, including test interpretation and report by a physician, specify number of tests) using allergenic extracts. Report 95024 according to the number of tests the physician performed.

Intradermal dilutional testing (IDT) refers to 95027 (Intracutaneous [intradermal] tests, sequential and incremental, with allergenic extracts for airborne allergens, immediate type reaction, including test interpretation and report by a physician, specify number of tests).

Example: Consider a patient who requires three tests of increasing strength to determine his end point for 14 allergens, including dog dander, pine, hickory, and Bermuda grass. You should report 95027 x 42 units (14 allergens multiplied by 3 tests). Each unit represents one stick or dilutional test per antigen.

-- The answers to the Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were provided and reviewed by Alan L. Plummer, MD, professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary, allergy, and critical care at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta; and Carol Pohlig, BSN, RN, CPC, ASC, senior coding and education specialist at the University of Pennsylvania department of medicine in Philadelphia.