Summary & Overview
CPT 86932: Preparation, Freezing, and Thawing of Frozen Blood Unit
CPT code 86932 captures the laboratory task of preparing, freezing, and thawing a unit of frozen blood. This blood bank procedural code is relevant nationally for hospital-based transfusion services and centralized laboratories that manage frozen blood units for storage and later clinical use. Accurate coding of this service affects inventory management, billing for transfusion readiness, and reporting of specialized blood bank procedures.
Key payers in coverage discussions include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. The publication provides a concise national overview of how 86932 is used in clinical workflows, and what stakeholders should understand about coding and operational contexts for frozen blood handling.
Readers will find benchmarks and operational context for frozen blood unit preparation, descriptions of typical sites of service, and clarity about which payers are commonly engaged in coverage and reimbursement for blood bank procedures. Data not available in the input will be explicitly identified where applicable, and the piece focuses on clinical and billing definitions rather than payer-specific negotiation guidance.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 86932 describes the laboratory service in which a lab analyst prepares, freezes, and thaws a unit of frozen blood. This procedure involves handling a donor or patient blood unit to place it into a frozen state for storage and subsequently thawing it for transfusion or further processing.
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Service type: Blood bank / transfusion preparation services
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Typical site of service: Hospital blood bank or transfusion service laboratory
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A blood bank laboratory analyst receives an order to prepare a previously collected unit of frozen blood for transfusion or component testing. The typical patient is a hospitalized adult or pediatric patient requiring a thawed frozen red blood cell unit (e.g., autologous units, rare donor units, or units frozen for inventory management) prior to transfusion, compatibility testing, or irradiation. The workflow includes: receipt of the thaw request from transfusion medicine or the clinical team, retrieval of the designated frozen unit from cryostorage, controlled thawing using validated water bath or mechanical thawer techniques, post-thaw inspection for integrity and hemolysis, appropriate labeling and aliquoting if required, and placement of the thawed unit into appropriate storage conditions until transfusion or downstream testing. Documentation includes unit identification, thaw start and completion times, thawing method, analyst initials, and any deviations (e.g., partial thaw, hemolysis). This activity is performed in the hospital blood bank or centralized transfusion service laboratory and is typically recorded as a discrete laboratory service billed under 86932 when the lab analyst prepares, freezes, or thaws a unit of frozen blood as described in the CPT descriptor.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
26 | Professional component | When billing a facility that requires separation of professional and technical components and the billing covers only the professional interpretation related to transfusion consultation. |