Wiki One patient encounter or Two?

[mray]

If a physician writes an order for a stool culture and the patient takes home to collect specimen then brings back to the office 4 days latter, is this coded on the same encounter or should a separate encounter be coded for the lab only?

 

[heatherwinters]

Stool culture

Are you performing the laboratory service in your office for the test?

See the attached article

http://www.aafp.org/fpm/20050500/coding.html

A fecal-occult blood test may be billed independent of an office visit. For example, a patient presents for an office visit and is given a sample collection card to take home on June 1; that same day, a claim for the office visit is filed. On June 4, the completed card is returned and the test is done. It would be appropriate to submit a separate claim on June 4 for just the fecal-occult blood test.

 

[mray]

Yes we are.