Why Doesn't Medicare Treat All Diagnostic Tests Equally?

When a patient presents with an oral lesion or signs and/or symptoms of disease, a biopsy is frequently required to determine the underlying cause. Tissue biopsies are a critical link in the chain of patient care since a single, definitive diagnosis for a lesion is rarely provided on the basis of its clinical or radiographic features alone. Such diagnostic uncertainly can delay proper treatment or lead to interventions that inadvertently make the condition worse. After the biopsy sample is received by a surgical pathology laboratory, it receives a gross (macroscopic) evaluation followed by processing and routine histologic (microscopic) examination of stained tissue sections.
Source: Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontics - Category: ENT & OMF Authors: Source Type: research