From Molly Klima, University Hospitals of Cleveland: Hi George, we are in the process of bringing up the Instrumentation Laboratory Silica Clotting Time (SCT) assay and are struggling with the CPT code. Since there is no straightforward CPT for the assay our dilemma is as follows:
- 85730 Thromboplastin time, partial (PTT); plasma or whole blood
- 85732 Thromboplastin time, partial (PTT); plasma or whole blood substitution, plasma fractions, each
We are not doing mixes but are performing both the normalized screen and confirm on all patients. I was wondering if anyone performing it could weigh in on this. Hi, Molly, and thank you for your question. I’m sending it to a few colleagues who routinely assign CPT codes, and I hope we will have an answer soon.
To continue, I received an answer three hours after our original post from friend and colleague Cindy Johns MSA, MLS (ASCP) CMSHCM, Senior IT Technical Specialist, LabCorp. She dealt with the same question shortly after the SCT was cleared, and consulted with a coder who recommended 85730 Thromboplastin time, partial (PTT); plasma or whole blood, same as your first selection. I hope this helps.
Posted for Dr. Jeanine Walenga, Loyola in Chicago: George, W
Posted for Dr. Jeanine Walenga, Loyola in Chicago: George, We use only the CPT code 85390 (x1). We will look into using the other codes. We are actually in a process of reviewing our billing for coagulation testing, making sure we are optimizing our options.
Can your colleagues also weigh in if they bill the CPT code x1 or multiple times, depending on whether the screen, confirm, SCT, DRRVT, mixing studies, and/or additional incubation steps are all performed. In other words, for a full LA work-up how is it billed? Thanks, Jeanine.