Summary & Overview
CPT 80176: Lidocaine Quantitation, Clinical Laboratory
CPT code 80176 denotes a laboratory assay that quantifies the concentration of lidocaine in a patient specimen. Lidocaine is commonly used as a local anesthetic and, in certain clinical contexts, for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias; accurate measurement supports safe dosing, therapeutic monitoring, and detection of potential toxicity. This code matters nationally because therapeutic drug monitoring ensures patient safety across settings where lidocaine is prescribed or administered, and laboratory reimbursement policies affect access to timely testing.
Key payers considered include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise overview of the code’s clinical purpose and service setting, plus what to expect in a broader analysis: common billing considerations, payer coverage patterns, and clinical context for ordering the assay. The publication will provide benchmarks where available, summarize relevant billing guidance and policy updates, and situate the test within typical care pathways for anesthesia and arrhythmia management.
Data not available in the input for associated taxonomies, ICD-10 diagnoses, and related codes.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 80176 describes a laboratory procedure in which a clinical laboratory analyst performs the technical test to quantitate the amount of lidocaine in a patient specimen. This test measures the concentration of the local anesthetic lidocaine, an agent also used in some cardiac arrhythmia management, to assess therapeutic levels or potential toxicity.
Service Type: Clinical laboratory toxicology/medication assay
Typical Site of Service: Clinical laboratory or hospital laboratory (specimen collected in outpatient clinic, emergency department, or inpatient setting and analyzed in a laboratory)
Data not available in the input.
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 62-year-old male with a history of ventricular tachycardia is admitted to the hospital after receiving intravenous lidocaine for arrhythmia control during an episode of symptomatic palpitations. The cardiology team orders a quantitative serum lidocaine level to confirm therapeutic concentration and to evaluate for potential toxicity because the patient develops new-onset confusion and perioral numbness. A phlebotomist draws a serum specimen in the inpatient laboratory; the specimen is sent to the hospital clinical chemistry/toxicology laboratory. A laboratory analyst performs the technical assay to quantitate lidocaine concentration using appropriate analytic instrumentation (e.g., liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry or immunoassay), reports the numeric result, and the result is routed to the ordering clinician. Typical site of service is the hospital clinical laboratory or a reference laboratory supporting inpatient and outpatient settings. The service type is a quantitative toxicology/drug level assay for lidocaine used for therapeutic monitoring and toxicity assessment.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
26 | Professional component | Use if only the physician professional interpretation or oversight is billed separately from the lab technical component |
TC |