This is a reply to the message relating to the July 99 CAP Today. This is the
main problem with CPT coding, not reading and interpreting what is said
properly. The article says of special stain coding:

"ONE specimen with ONE special stain used on multiple slides receives the
appropriate special stains code only once; however, one specimen that receives
three special stains is coded separately for each special stain used".

 If you stain 3 PAS's on 1 specimen, you can only bill for 1 PAS. If you stain a
PAS, GMS and Trichrome on 1 specimen, you can bill for 3 special stains. Also,
if you have 3 specimens that are each stained with PAS, you can bill 3 times.

RSRICHMOND@aol.com wrote:

> The article on CPT coding in the July 1999 number of CAP Today - probably
> still gathering dust in your pathologist's office - is extremely good, and is
> MUST reading for anyone with ANY responsibility for CPT coding of surgical
> pathology cases.
>
> CAP Today promised additional articles, but I believe that so far none have
> appeared.
>
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Knoxville TN