Medicare cpt codes - antibody identification code - 86658, 86970 , 86671

Antibody Identification Codes 

Antibody identification codes are organized together in the Immunology section of the CPT (codes 86602 through 86804). These procedures must be coded as precisely as possible. When multiple tests are performed to detect antibodies to a specific organism or class of immunoglobulin, each assay is to be coded separately.
For example, if antibodies to Coxsackie A and B viruses are determined using two separate assays, the following codes would be used:

• 86658 ANTIBODY: Enterovirus (Coxsackie A)
• 86658 ANTIBODY: Enterovirus (Coxsackie B)

If the IgM immunoglobulin class was subsequently determined for each type of virus, the same code would be used two more times:

• 86658 ANTIBODY: Enterovirus (Coxsackie A, IgM)
• 86658 ANTIBODY: Enterovirus (Coxsackie B, IgM)

When a specific antibody is not listed, one of the following general purpose codes or the appropriate method code should be used:

• 86790 ANTIBODY: virus, not listed elsewhere
• 86671 ANTIBODY: fungus, not listed elsewhere
• 86609 ANTIBODY: bacterium, not listed elsewhere

Identification of antibodies to antigens other than viruses, fungi, or bacteria are coded by method rather than analyte. For example, an immunofluorescent titer for Trichinella antibodies (a parasite) would be coded as:

• 86256 FLUORESCENT ANTIBODY: titer, each antibody