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This change will take effect on January 1, 2016

Effective January 1, 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) will introduce numerous changes to current procedural terminology (CPT) codes that include 11 deleted codes, 28 new codes and 50 revised codes. To ensure you are properly reimbursed for laboratory services rendered, PathGroup recommends you implement these changes (along with any other applicable CPT code changes) into your practice’s billing and coding structure by January 1, 2016.

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This change will take effect on January 1, 2016

Effective January 1, 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) will introduce numerous changes to current procedural terminology (CPT) codes that include 11 deleted codes, 28 new codes and 50 revised codes. As a result, a new Obstetrics panel that includes HIV testing will be added and will require the use of CPT code 80081. In order to bill this code all components of the panel must be performed. The added service for this new panel includes HIV-1 antigen(s), with HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies, single result (87389).

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This change will take effect December 7, 2015

Overview and Clinical Utility:

Effective December 7, 2015 PathGroup Labs will no longer be performing wet mount testing or culture for Trichomonas vaginalis In order to provide our clients with the most up to date infectious disease testing methods. According to the 2015 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines recently published by the CDC, culture is no longer considered the gold standard method for diagnosing T. vaginalis infection with the advent of molecular detection methods.  Wet mount microscopic analysis suffers from extremely low sensitivity which can give rise to a high number of false negative results. PathGroup will continue to offer testing for Trichomonas vaginalis by the APTIMA assay.

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This change will take effect November 1, 2015

Effective November 1, 2015, PathGroup’s Patient Service Center located on New Shackle Island Road in Hendersonville will no longer accept patients. If you have laboratory specimens for PathGroup and are not on a regular courier schedule, please call Client Services at 888-474-5227 to arrange a special pickup after November 1, 2015.

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September 30, 2015

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated conversion to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) will go into effect tomorrow, October 1, 2015. For proper claims processing on October 1 and after, it is essential that clients submit the most accurate and complete ICD-10 diagnosis code(s) to avoid incident. Claims encoded using the ICD-9 code set for services performed after October 1 will not be accepted.

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September 28, 2015

In an effort to ensure uninterrupted order processing, clients who submit testing by a standard PathGroup requisition should indicate ICD-10 codes for services performed on and after October 1, 2015.

PathGroup encourages clients to utilize their existing requisition inventory until it has been depleted. Regardless of whether or not a requisition indicates “ICD-9” for diagnosis, clients should provide an ICD-10 code on or after October 1, 2015. PathGroup will accept all existing requisitions provided that the proper ICD-10 code(s) for services is indicated.

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September 8, 2015

Effective October 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated conversion from the International Classification of Diseases 9th Revision (ICD-9) to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) will go into effect.  A key trait of ICD-10 introduces more specific and complete codes that reflect modern medicine and updated medical terminology. As a result, Pap smear diagnosis codes have expanded for routine and high risk patient visits.

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This change will take effect August 31, 2015

Overview and Clinical Utility:
Effective August 31, 2015, PathGroup will introduce updated molecular oncology reports with key enhancements to formatting, color blocking and report layout. This release is the combined effort of the Molecular Operations and IT Development teams to bring clients clear concise reports optimized for ease of use and interpretation.

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