Practice Management Alert
Utilize These Options for COVID-19 Vaccination Status
Question: Is there a way to officially document someone’s vaccination status? Some of our patients are fully vaccinated — boosted — and others are completely unvaccinated, and others are somewhere in between. Maryland Subscriber Answer: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), beginning April 1, you’ll have ICD-10 code options for vaccination status documentation. The agency announced the news via an MLN Matters® release (Change Request 12578) on Jan. 14. The offerings include the subcategory code Z28.31 (Underimmunized for COVID-19 status) and three additional diagnosis options: Note: The CDC adds a note to the codes in Chapter 21 of the ICD-10-CM tabular list and addendum: “These codes should not be used for individuals who are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines, as determined by the healthcare provider.” Find more details at https://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Publications/ICD10CM/2022/icd10cm-tabular-addenda-2022-April-1.pdf. Additionally, the ICD-10 guidelines also offer more clarity. “Underimmunization for COVID-19 Status Code Z28.310, Unvaccinated for COVID-19, may be assigned when the patient has not received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. Code Z28.311, Partially vaccinated for COVID-19, may be assigned when the patient has received at least one dose of a multi-dose COVID-19 vaccine regimen, but has not received the full set of doses necessary to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ in place at the time of the encounter. For information, visit the CDC’s website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/ explain the guidelines. 
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