CPT 87070: Bacterial Culture, Any Source
Culture, bacterial; any other source except urine, blood, or stool, aerobic, with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates.
Why CPT 87070 Claims Get Denied
Claims billed under CPT 87070 are frequently denied or downcoded for the following reasons. Understanding these patterns helps your practice reduce denial rates and recover revenue faster.
Culture not medically necessary based on diagnosis
Duplicate with rapid test on same date
Specimen source not documented
CLIA certificate does not cover culture testing
Billing Tips for CPT 87070
Bill for the culture, and separately for any sensitivity testing (87181-87188) if performed. Use specimen-specific culture codes when available (87086 for urine, 87040 for blood). Document the clinical indication and specimen source clearly.
Documentation Requirements
To support a clean claim for CPT 87070, your clinical documentation should include:
Specimen source documented
Clinical indication for culture
Collection method
Culture results with organism identification
Sensitivity results if performed
Reduce CPT 87070 Denials by 60%
RediClaim's pre-submission scrubber catches documentation gaps and coding errors before you submit, while the appeal generator handles denials that slip through.