88363 covers preparing and conveying archived tissue; 88364 reports an in situ hybridization assay.
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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
88363 Tissue preparation Medicare reimbursement rates in Massachusetts
Report this service when a pathology laboratory prepares and conveys previously diagnosed, archived tissue for molecular analysis, counted once per case. Compare 88363 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Massachusetts.
Amounts below use the non-QP conversion factor for participating physicians. These are base physician payments before claim-level adjustments, not patient costs or total hospital charges.
What does Medicare pay for 88363 in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts has 2 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 2 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$23.30–$25.08
2 of 2 localities have a supported rate.
Facility setting
$15.56–$16.30
2 of 2 localities have a supported rate.
These are locality ranges, not averages or address-specific quotes. A facility-setting amount covers the physician service; it does not include a hospital’s separate bill. Choose a locality below to inspect its calculation, compare other payment areas, or price a percentage of Medicare.
Pathology laboratory
About 88363: Archived tissue preparation for molecular testing
Report this service when a pathology laboratory prepares and conveys previously diagnosed, archived tissue for molecular analysis, counted once per case.
A pathology laboratory prepares tissue that was previously diagnosed and placed in its archive when a clinician later requests molecular testing. The work centers on locating the relevant archived material, preparing the requested tissue, and conveying it to the laboratory that will perform the molecular analysis. A pathologist or pathology laboratory staff may coordinate the preparation as part of diagnostic testing, including when the testing laboratory is separate from the archive holding the tissue.
Report one unit for each qualifying archived case, rather than counting individual slides or tissue pieces as separate cases. The record should identify the archived case, the request for molecular analysis, and the preparation and transfer of tissue. This service covers preparation and conveyance, not the molecular assay itself; code the assay separately when it is performed and separately reportable. CMS assigns this code work, practice-expense, and malpractice relative values, with practice-expense inputs that differ between office and facility settings.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU0.36 · 53%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.30 · 44%
- Malpractice RVU0.02 · 3%
50.5K
Medicare services in 2024 · #778 by national volume
This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.
88363 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Massachusetts, from the same CMS release.
Use 88363 for archived-tissue preparation and transfer. Use 88367 for the automated in situ hybridization assay itself.
88363 concerns preparation and conveyance from an archive; 88368 describes manual in situ hybridization performed on tissue.
88363 covers preparing and conveying archived tissue for molecular analysis. 88380 describes laser microdissection, a tissue-separation procedure.
Compare 88363 by payment locality
Find the payment area for your service address, then open its rate page for calculation inputs, release history and the percentage-of-Medicare tool. A city may cross payment-area boundaries; the ZIP lookup above helps resolve the location.
2 of 2 payment localities
Metropolitan Boston →
Office / nonfacility
$25.08
Facility
$16.30
Rest Of Massachusetts →
Office / nonfacility
$23.30
Facility
$15.56
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88363 billing questions
When is 88363 appropriate instead of an in situ hybridization code?
Use 88363 for preparing and conveying previously diagnosed, archived tissue for molecular analysis. In situ hybridization codes describe the assay performed on tissue, not this archive-preparation service.
How many units should be reported?
The code is reported per case. Do not count each slide or tissue piece as a separate case.
Does 88363 include the molecular test?
No. It describes preparation and conveyance of archived tissue; the molecular assay is a separate service when performed and separately reportable.
What documentation supports reporting 88363?
Document the previously diagnosed archived case, the request for molecular analysis, and the preparation and conveyance of tissue for that analysis.
Where these rates come from
FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense, and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indices and the applicable conversion factor. Unavailable or separately priced services are labeled rather than assigned a made-up amount.
Source: RVU26D. Effective 2026-10-01 through the day before 2027-01-01.
