Becky Garrison (where?) asks: > Here, we have either a pathologist or histotech take a cart with > dissecting microscope to the kidney biopsy in Radiology and give the > nephrologist who performs the procedure immediate feed back on whether > the biopsy contains sufficient glomeruli. 95% of the time, the techs > attend and the pathologist backs up when no tech is available. (This > applies to native kidney biopsies only; transplant kidney biopsies are > brought immediately to Pathology Gross Room by nephrology fellow or > resident.) It is interesting that we have never charged for this 'immediate > evaluation' service, neither technical nor professional. Are others > who perform this service charging, and if so, what CPT code / modifier > is used?
If I (a pathologist) did the evaluation, I'd charge 88329, pathology consultation during surgery, like I would for opening a colon resection specimen in the surgical suite but not doing a frozen section. I don't know whether this code is applicable when a histotech does the evaluation. Ouch! I hate to see a microscope subjected to the jolting and vibration it gets from being transported in a cart. I'd rather have the specimen brought to the laboratory. I like this procedure, because it allows the pathologist to have a dissecting microscope (stereo microscope). As I've mentioned before, I like to look at small bowel biopsy specimens done for suspected celiac disease, before I submit them for processing. Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet