[Histonet] IHC cost-effectiveness

[Carlos Rodriguez, MD]

Hi everyone

These questions are primarily for those people who currently work in, or
have experience in private practices (derm, GI) that have in-house path
labs.

For IHC, how cost-effective is it to do immunos in-house *using kits*? No
immunostainer would be available. I imagine it's substantially more
expensive than doing H&E and special stains. Also, how many slides can a
typical single kit be used for, and how time-consuming is the actual process
of manual IHC staining?

Lastly, do practices run into problems sending cases out to larger labs for
the TC of immunostains, and then doing the read (PC) themselves in-house? Do
insurers or CMS disallows this practice or not reimburse 2 separate billers
for the same case?

Thanks very much.

Carlos Rodriguez, MD