Ex CEO; 87798

 Link.

After nearly a decade building Lighthouse Lab Services into the nation's leading laboratory management and services firm, I've made the decision to step down as CEO....I'm excited to welcome Jason Severtson as Lighthouse's next CEO and have tremendous confidence in the future of the company.

Dos the internet show connections between Lighthouse Lab Services and CPT code 87798?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnazkuCSIBI

https://www.lighthouselabservices.com/guide-navigating-pcr-billing-challenges-in-moldx-jurisdictions/

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Yes. The internet shows multiple and direct connections between Lighthouse Lab Services and PCR microbiology reimbursement issues, including repeated discussion of CPT 87798 and urine PCR panels.  See links above.

Some of these  links also describe substantial or rising difficulty for 87798 payments.

The strongest connection is a 2025 Lighthouse Lab Services article entitled "Guide: Navigating PCR Billing Challenges in MolDx Jurisdictions." In it, Lighthouse discusses exactly the coding controversy around multiplex PCR microbiology testing. Guide: Navigating PCR Billing Challenges in MolDx Jurisdictions

Some key points:

• Lighthouse specifically discusses the longstanding debate between reporting organisms individually with CPT 87798 versus using the multiplex panel code CPT 87801.

• They state that AMA CPT guidance has supported reporting organisms individually (using codes including 87798) when separate organisms are individually identified.

• They then explain that CMS, particularly in MolDx jurisdictions, has increasingly insisted that many multiplex PCR assays be billed instead as 87801, producing substantially lower reimbursement. (Lighthouse Lab Services)

Even more interestingly for your question, Lighthouse specifically mentions urine PCR panels:

"UTI, RPP, wound, and fungal panels..." are discussed as examples of high-target PCR panels facing MolDx reimbursement problems, including lack of appropriate Z-Codes. (Lighthouse Lab Services)

So they are not talking abstractly about PCR—they specifically identify UTI (urinary tract infection) multiplex PCR testing as a major reimbursement problem.

They also note that:

• many commercial payers (UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Optum) are adopting MolDx-like reimbursement policies;

• laboratories are seeing denials when billing organism-by-organism;

• laboratories often receive payment only when switching to 87801, even though reimbursement may be well below laboratory costs. (Lighthouse Lab Services)

Separately, Lighthouse has built an entire consulting practice around molecular infectious disease laboratories. Their infectious disease consulting page discusses laboratories transitioning into infectious disease PCR testing after COVID and specifically advertises assistance with reimbursement strategy for infectious disease PCR panels. Lighthouse Lab Services Infectious Disease & PCR Consulting (Lighthouse Lab Services)

They have also produced webinars and videos devoted to these reimbursement issues, including one titled "Navigating PCR Reimbursement Challenges in MolDx States," where founder Jon Harol discusses the policy environment surrounding PCR billing. Navigating PCR Reimbursement Challenges in MolDx States

About CPT 87798 and urine PCR

One nuance is worth mentioning.

87798 itself is not a urine-specific code. It is an "infectious agent detection by nucleic acid" code that can be used for many organisms and specimen types. For example, Quest Diagnostics uses 87798 for a urine BK virus PCR assay. (Test Directory)

The controversy arises because some commercial laboratories performing multiplex urine UTI PCR panels historically billed multiple 87798 units (one per organism), whereas CMS/MolDx has increasingly preferred treating the multiplex assay as a single test billed with 87801. That reimbursement dispute is exactly what Lighthouse's 2025 article analyzes. (Lighthouse Lab Services)

Given your background in MolDx policy, I think you'll find the Lighthouse article unusually detailed—it reads less like marketing copy and more like a practical reimbursement memo for laboratories trying to survive the transition from multiple 87798 claims to 87801 billing.