Wiki Billing for venipunctures

[VeronicaAC1]

Hello...our group has never billed 3 separate venipunctures when doing a 3-hr glucose in the office but have recently been told we can and should bill for all 3. Is this correct? Will insurance pay for all 3 sticks on same date? It would not be worth it if I have to constantly appeal. Thank you in advance. Veronica

 

[btadlock1]

Hello...our group has never billed 3 separate venipunctures when doing a 3-hr glucose in the office but have recently been told we can and should bill for all 3. Is this correct? Will insurance pay for all 3 sticks on same date? It would not be worth it if I have to constantly appeal. Thank you in advance. Veronica

IF the venipunctures are covered by the payer, you should be able to bill them. That's a pretty big 'if', though - many payers will consider them incidental to the labs. It varies a lot (sometimes it can vary from group to group, like with Blue Cross). Check your payers' policies and procedures. The reimbursement on 36415 is really low, so I agree that appealing denials is probably not cost-effective. We bill it out when we do it, and if it pays, it pays, but if it denies, we write it off. Hope that helps!