Laboratory Question for the Week of May 26, 2025

Question:

What guidance does the preamble to the microbiology subsection of CPT® provide regarding presumptive and definitive identification, and what procedures can laboratories continue to report separately in 2025?

Answer:

The preamble to the microbiology subsection of CPT defines what constitutes a presumptive identification (e.g., procedures that should not be separately coded when presumptive identification is referenced in the descriptor of a CPT code). The preamble also defines what constitutes a definitive identification and other separately billable identification techniques. For 2025, laboratories can continue to assign separate codes for:

• The stain performed on the primary specimen
•  The primary culture, which includes the presumptive identification procedures
• The definitive identification procedure for each isolate
•  Additional, method-specific identification studies
• Antimicrobial sensitivity studies.

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