Get Set for Allergy Season by Matching Prep And Immunotherapy to Real-World Encounters

Surprise: Multi-dose prep deserves its own unit coding

Hay fever may bring allergy sufferers to your practice in droves. But you can remain clear-headed when coding immunotherapy services with this action plan.

Because CPT contains different codes for allergen immunotherapy performance and supplies, you may be uncertain which code to use. When a physician does allergy injections, “we have difficulty with 95115-95117 versus 95120-95125 and 95165,” says Teresa Carrillo, coder at Children’s Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. To select the correct code, apply the following scenarios to your allergy claims.
Report Allergy Shots as 95115, 95117
When an allergist provides an allergy injection without mixing the serum on the same day, you should assign 95115 (Professional services for allergen immunotherapy not including provision of allergenic extracts; single injection) or 95117 (... two or more injections). These two codes are for the injection services and do not include providing the extract, says Shelley Bellm, CPC, at Colorado Mountain Medical.
 
Example 1: A patient supplies his own vials for immunotherapy, and you perform the injections. “Because the physician only administers the allergen, you should report 95115 or 95117,” Bellm says.

Choose 95115 or 95117 based on the number of injections the patient receives. To indicate that the patient received one allergen injection, use 95115, Bellm says. “Code 95117 indicates the patient received two or more allergen injections.”

Be careful: Always report allergen immunotherapy codes 95115 or 95117 “one time, regardless of the number of injections performed,” Bellm says. You should not specify each injection, she says.

Pitfall averted: The above billing advice can help you avoid denials. Before Bellm’s office began basic coding training for their clinical support staff, they would indicate both 95115 and 95117 when administering two or more injections. When entering allergy codes this way, the practice faced denials for unbundling these codes.
Report Injections and Extract With 95120-95125
Get out of the 95115-95117 zone when your practice mixes the serum. CPT uses two different code sets to describe allergen immunotherapy injections with allergenic extracts, says Chrissy Letsen, CPC, education and auditing specialist at Metropolitan ENT in Alexandria, Va.

“When the physician uses a treatment board to mix each serum prior to administration, you should use 95120 (Professional services for allergen immunotherapy in prescribing physician’s office or institution, including provision of allergenic extract; single injection) or 95125 (… two or more injections),” Letsen says.

Example 2: An allergist prescribes allergy immunotherapy for a patient. On the individual’s bimonthly therapy day, a nurse mixes the serum and gives the injections. In this case, you should report 95120 or 95125 to describe allergen immunotherapy including allergenic extract provision.

Codes 95120-95125 and 95115-95117 parallel each other in terms of quantity. Use 95120 as you do 95115 [...]

- Published on 2006-09-08