Pediatric Coding Alert

Keep your vaccine money flowing with these easy-to-implement tips.Vaccine payments make up a significant part of your pediatric practice's A/R, but if you fall under the spell of these common myths, you could be losing your immunization income. Check out the following five vaccine coding pitfalls, and follow our advice to ensure that you don't fall into these traps.Myth 1: You Should Always Report V20.2 With VaccinesScenario: You administer a vaccine and automatically circle V20.2 (Routine infant or child health check) on the superbill--but your payer denies the claim, asking you to itemize diagnoses to match the immunizations. Why?Reality: The belief that V20.2 is the only code applicable to well-child vaccines is actually a myth. Although V20.2 is certainly the most common diagnosis code for this purpose, and is usually payable, it is not your only option.On its Vaccine Coding Table, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) notes that such [...]