# Tetanus Vaccine/Open Wound - notes in the documentation



## dballard2004 (Jun 13, 2011)

I have a dilema that I hope someone can provide some insight on, please....

A patient presented to one of our clinics with a dog bite.  The provider (NP) notes in the documentation that the wound was healing well, and then administered a tetanus vaccine to this patient.  The provider did not code the open wound, she just coded the V code for the vaccine using the rationele that she did not treat the wound, she only administered the vaccine.  

My questions are:

1.  What actally consitutes "treatment" of a wound per Medicare in order to administer a tetanus vaccine?  Is administering the vaccine only considered "treatment?"

2.  Is there any criteria as to what actually constitues an evaluation of a wound?  I realize that inspection of the skin is an element in E/M, but is just stating that the patient has a wound and it appears to be healing well enough to justify a tetanus vaccine to Medicare?

I hope my questions make sense and someone can provide insight.  Thanks.


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## pscott (Jun 20, 2011)

There has to be an open wound for medicare to pay for it.
Hope this helps!


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