§ 415.130 Conditions for payment: Physician pathology services.

(a) Definitions. The following definitions are used in this section. (1) Covered hospital means, with respect to an inpatient or an outpatient, a hospital that had an arrangement with an independent laboratory that was in effect as of July 22, 1999, under which a laboratory furnished the technical component of physician pathology services to fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries who were hospital inpatients or outpatients, and submitted claims for payment for this technical component directly to a Medicare carrier. (2) Fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries means those beneficiaries who are entitled to benefits under Part A or are enrolled under Part B of Title XVIII of the Act or both and are not enrolled in any of the following: (i) A Medicare + Choice plan under Part C of Title XVIII of the Act. (ii) A plan offered by an eligible organization under section 1876 of the Act; (iii) A program of all-inclusive care for the elderly (PACE) under 1894 of the Act; or (iv) A social health maintenance organization (SHMO) demonstration project established under section 4018(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987. (b) Physician pathology services. The carrier pays for pathology services furnished by a physician to an individual beneficiary on a fee schedule basis only if the services meet the conditions for payment in § 415.102(a) and are one of the following services: (1) Surgical pathology services. (2) Specific cytopathology, hematology, and blood banking services that have been identified to require performance by a physician and are listed in program operating instructions. (3) Clinical consultation services that meet the requirements in paragraph (c) of this section. (4) Clinical laboratory interpretative services that meet the requirements of paragraphs (c)(1), (c)(3), and (c)(4) of this section and that are specifically listed in program operating instructions. (c) Clinical consultation services. For purposes of this section, clinical consultation services must meet the following requirements: (1) Be requested by the beneficiary's attending physician. (2) Relate to a test result that lies outside the clinically significant normal or expected range in view of the condition of the beneficiary. (3) Result in a written narrative report included in the beneficiary's medical record. (4) Require the exercise of medical judgment by the consultant physician. (d) Physician pathology services furnished by an independent laboratory. (1) The technical component of physician pathology services furnished by an independent laboratory to a hospital inpatient or outpatient on or before June 30, 2012, may be paid to the laboratory by the contractor under the physician fee schedule if the Medicare beneficiary is a patient of a covered hospital as defined in paragraph (a)(1) of this section. (2) For services furnished after June 30, 2012, an independent laboratory may not bill the Medicare contractor for the technical component of physician pathology services furnished to a hospital inpatient or outpatient. (3) For services furnished on or after January 1, 2008, the date of service policy in § 414.510 of this chapter applies to the TC of specimens for physician pathology services.