Follow these tips to correctly bill doses The key to reporting some of HCPCS 2004's new cancer-related J codes is to pay close attention to the dose amounts, coding experts say. If you use the above codes, make sure your claim reflects the updated dose amount the J code carries, says Carolyn M. Davis, CMA, CPC, CCP, CCS-P, CPHT, TMC, billing supervisor for Oncology Hematology West in Papillion, Neb.
Most of these J codes replace codes that listed higher dose amounts. That means if you submit the new codes under the old doses, you could end up with denials or inappropriate reimbursement.
HCPCS adds the following codes:
epirubicin in chemotherapy administration to treat several cancers, including breast (174.x) and lung (162.x, Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus, and lung) cancers, says Margaret M. Hickey, MS, MSN, RN, OCN, CORLN, an independent oncology coding consultant based in New Orleans.
For example, prior to 2004, if your oncologist administered 300 mg of epirubicin to a patient, you would have reported J9180 (Epirubicin ... 50 mg) and then noted the number of 50-mg units the physician used (6 units).
Now, however, if the oncologist provides 160 mg of epirubicin, not only will you have to assign new code J9178 but you will also have to report the amount used in 2-mg units. That means you should bill 80 units of epirubicin.
And if you report the new code (J9178) but use the old dose amount (50 mg), you can expect reduced payments and possibly denials.