Hi SWsibemom,
Unless you may have another scenario, I think I may know what your issue is.
Patient arrives at your facility and has blood drawn (many vials) and its resulted. Reviewing the laboratory tests for that DOS it is revealed that the patient came in and had for example a CMP (comp met panel) ordered by provider A that they just saw that day. However there is an outstanding laboratory test by provider B from 3 months ago for exact same lab - CMP (comp met panel) that was also drawn with the other labs from provider A and now there are two charges simply like 2 minutes apart. Is it appropriate to bill both of these charges? At the facility I work for - the answer is absolutely no.
You would simply bill this once. I know from NCCI policy that performing a laboratory test a second time without having medical necessity would be wrong.
Unless you have another scenario where there would be a laboratory test done only minutes apart??? That would be my suggestion.
I have plenty of tests that are done peak and trough and those that are done prior to testing, 30 minutes into testing, 60 minutes, and again at 90 minutes that we bill the subsequent charges with modifier 59 or XE (depending on insurance) with procedure description of time drawn and lab performed.
Thanks for listening,
Dana Chock, RHIT, CPC, CANPC, CHONC, CPMA, CPB
Pathology Coder & Coding Analyst