[Histonet] Re: PROSTATE LEVELS

[Bob Richmond]

S. Kathy Baldwin, SCT (ASCP) at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center
somewhere in southern Indiana asks:

>>We are just getting into prostate biopsies and our pathologists would
like us to get 3 levels, we are going to do this but can I charge GM4 x3
with a modifier for those??<<

You need five levels, cut onto slides suitable for immunohistochemistry.
Stain 1, 3, and 5 with H & E. Reserve 2 and 4 for possible immunostains,
needed in about 10% of cases. I learned this while working in a big
commercial prostate lab, and set it up in a lab processing a few prostate
biopsies a week.

In prostate biopsies, having to recut diminishes the usefulness of
immunostains by about half.

Another point: no more than two of the long (about 20 mm) cores per
paraffin block.

I can't comment on the billing issues Ms. Baldwin mentions. For CPT coding,
you can code 88305 for each of as many bottles as you receive. The minimum
is two (right and left) but it's nice if you can persuade your urologists
to make additional designations (like apex, mid, base - on each side).

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Maryville TN