mediloop
Billing codes

Revenue code 0300

Laboratory (general)

The hospital's laboratory line. On an itemized bill it breaks into individual tests, each with its own CPT code (80053 for a metabolic panel, 85025 for a blood count, and so on). The summary total under 0300 is only as good as the tests inside it.

Watch out

Where this line goes wrong

Panel plus component

A panel code already includes its component tests. A comprehensive metabolic panel (80053) plus a basic metabolic panel (80048) on the same draw, or a panel plus one of its own components billed separately, is double billing that coding rules prohibit.

Draw fees stack

The blood draw itself (36415) is billable once per visit, not once per tube or once per test.

Tests that were never resulted

Ask for the lab report. A test that was billed but has no result was either cancelled or never run, and either way should come off.

What to do

Check it, then ask

  1. 1

    Ask for the itemized bill and the lab results and match each billed test to a result.

  2. 2

    Check for panels billed alongside their own components.

  3. 3

    Count the venipuncture (36415) lines; one per visit is the norm.

The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: Your bill came in above the estimate.

Think this line is wrong?

For $49, a mediloop specialist reads your itemized bill and EOB, if available, checks every code against the record and available pricing, flags the lines to dispute, and prepares a step-by-step plan with the exact wording to send. It appears in your account within 24 hours after all required documents arrive.

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Questions

People also ask

Why is a blood test so expensive at a hospital?

Hospital lab charges are set from the chargemaster and are often many times what an independent lab charges for the same test. If you are self-pay, the cash price for the test is the number to ask for.

Sources

This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.