Library: Policy
317:30-5-20. Laboratory services
Revised 9-12-22
This Section covers the guidelines for payment of laboratory services by a provider in his/her office, a certified laboratory and for a pathologist's interpretation of laboratory procedures.
(1) Compensable services. Providers may be reimbursed for compensable clinical diagnostic laboratory services only when they personally perform or supervise the performance of the test. If a provider refers specimen to a certified laboratory or a hospital laboratory serving outpatients, the certified laboratory or the hospital must bill for performing the test.
(A) Reimbursement for lab services is made in accordance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment of 1988 (CLIA). These regulations provide that payment may be made only for services furnished by a laboratory that meets CLIA conditions, including those furnished in physicians' offices. Eligible providers must be certified under the CLIA program and have obtained a CLIA ID number from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and have a current contract on file with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA). Providers performing laboratory services must have the appropriate CLIA certification specific to the level of testing performed.
(B) Only medically necessary laboratory services are compensable.
(i) Testing must be medically indicated as evidenced by patient-specific indications in the medical record.
(ii) Testing is only compensable if the results will affect patient care and are performed to diagnose conditions and illnesses with specific symptoms.
(iii) Testing is only compensable if the services are performed in furtherance of the diagnosis and/or treatment of conditions that are covered under SoonerCare.
(C) Laboratory testing must be ordered by the physician or non-physician provider, and must be individualized to the patient and the patient's medical history or assessment indicators as evidenced in the medical documentation.
(D) Laboratory testing for routine diagnostic or screening tests following clinical guidelines such as those found in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Bright Futures' periodicity schedule, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) A and B recommendations, the American Academy of Family Practitioners (AAFP), or other nationally recognized medical professional academy or society standards of care, is compensable. Additionally, such sources as named in this subdivision should meet medical necessity criteria as outlined in Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 317:30-3-1(f).
(2) Non-compensable laboratory services.
(A) Laboratory testing for routine diagnostic or screening tests not supported by the clinical guidelines of a nationally recognized medical professional academy or society standard of care, and/or testing that is performed without apparent relationship to treatment or diagnosis of a specific illness, symptom, complaint or injury is not covered.
(B) Non-specific, blanket panel or standing orders for laboratory testing or lab panels which have no impact on the patient's plan of care are not covered.
(C) Split billing, or dividing the billed services for the same patient for the same date of service by the same rendering laboratory into two (2) or more claims is not allowed.
(D) Separate payment is not made for blood specimens obtained by venipuncture, arterial puncture, or urine specimens collected by a provider who is also performing the laboratory testing as these services are considered part of the laboratory analysis.
(E) Claims for inpatient full service laboratory procedures are not covered since this is considered a part of the hospital rate.
(F) Billing multiple units of nucleic acid detection for individual infectious organisms when testing for more than one (1) infectious organism in a specimen is not permissible. Instead, OHCA considers it appropriate to bill a single unit of a procedure code indicated for multiple organism testing.
(G) Billing multiple Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes or units for molecular pathology tests that examine multiple genes or incorporate multiple types of genetic analysis in a single run or report is not permissible. Instead, OHCA considers it appropriate to bill a single CPT code for such test. If an appropriate code does not exist, then one (1) unit for an unlisted molecular pathology procedure may be billed.
(3) Covered services by a pathologist.
(A) A pathologist may be paid for the interpretation of inpatient surgical pathology specimen when the appropriate CPT procedure code and modifier is used.
(B) Full service or interpretation of surgical pathology for outpatient surgery performed in an outpatient hospital or ambulatory surgery center setting.
(4) Non-compensable services by a pathologist. The following are non-compensable pathologist services:
(A) Experimental or investigational procedures. For more information regarding experimental or investigational including clinical trials, see OAC 317:30-3-57.1.
(B) Interpretation of clinical laboratory procedures.
