Laboratory Question for the Week of September 5, 2022

Question:

When applying an “antibody cocktail” which contains two or more separately interpretable antibodies do you have any recommendations to determine applicable billable units of service?

Answer:

When applying an “antibody cocktail” which contains two or more separately interpretable antibodies providers should read the statement applicable to determine billable units of service as published in the NCCI policy narrative. The NCCI defines the unit of service for immunohistochemistry as “each single or multiplex antibody stain procedure per specimen. A multiplex antibody immunohisto chemical staining procedure is one that uses multiple antibodies to obtain multiple separately reportable medically reasonable and necessary results. An antibody stain containing multiple antibodies that yields a single reportable result is not a multiplex stain and shall be reported with a single antibody staining procedure CPT® code. An immunohistochemistry stain procedure with multiple antibodies that are not separately interpretable (e.g., antibody cocktail) shall only be reported as one (1) unit of service per specimen.”

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.