Question:
If an aspiration is done with the preparation of the smears on superficial tissue and without radiologic guidance, what code should we select?
Answer:
When the aspiration is performed with or without preparation of smears on a superficial tissue, without radiologic guidance, select code 10021 for the first lesion and code 10004 for each additional lesion, if more than one lesion is aspirated. Code 10004 is an add-on code and is reported with code 10021 only when multiple lesions are aspirated without radiologic guidance.
This question was answered in our Coding Essentials for Laboratories. For more hot topics relating to laboratory services, please visit our store or call us at 1.800.252.1578, ext. 2.