Date of Service (DOS) for Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Specimens

CMS revised the DOS policy for clinical laboratory tests and added the technical component of physician pathology service effective January 1, 2009.

The DOS policy for either a clinical laboratory test or the technical component of physician pathology service is as follows:

• General Rule: The DOS of the test/service must be the date the specimen was collected.
• Variation: If a specimen is collected over a period that spans two calendar days, then the DOS must be the date the collection ended.

The following two exceptions apply to this DOS policy for either a clinical laboratory test or the technical component of physician pathology service:

• Provider Payments During Period of No State Budget
• DOS for Tests/Services Performed on Stored Specimens
• DOS for Chemotherapy Sensitivity Tests/Services Performed on Live Tissue