Everything you ever wanted to know about pap smears

**DISCLAIMER**  

***This post was written in 2014 and the rules have changed since then. I am going to be putting up a new post with the new rules updated to ICD10 very soon. There are some major changes to the way the insurances accept the charges and this an old post with the old rules. If you have any questions, and can’t wait for the new post, please email me directly and I will try and help you out.*** 

The first thing about paps is that every insurance pays them differently. To tell the truth, I don’t have most of it memorized. What I do have is a binder, with one page per insurance, and all of the pap rules are laid out there, in alphabetical order.

Of course, I’m going to give those to you. I suggest you do what I do and put them all in a three ring binder. However, I can only give you the PPO pap smear rules, because your HMO contracts will not be the same as the contracts for my doctors. I can show you a few of my HMO rules, though, so when/if you make your own reference sheets you know what the necessary information is.

You CAN get an office visit and a pap smear paid on the same date on the same claim. You just need to use proper modifiers. Also, most insurances allow patients to self refer for their annual exam, so you shouldn’t have to worry about authorizations.

Here are the Pap rules for PPO insurances. For your HMO insurances, all you need to do is call the provider relations department and get a copy of the doctor’s contract. The contract will be fairly short, and very clear about which codes are paid. However, you will need to ask the provider relations people which diagnosis they need to see on the claims.

If you want to review the high risk rules you can find those on the MR website. Here is a link, for the curious.

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