Primary Care Coding Alert

But remember to note our expert advice and two important exceptions.

Now that immunization season is in full swing, we thought it would be a good idea to refresh your immunization coding memory. So, we asked two of our expert coders to answer three of the most frequently asked questions about this commonly performed primary care procedure.

Here’s what they had to say.

Question 1: If a patient comes in for a vaccination only, are they considered an established patient to the practice from that point on?

Answer: At this time of year, many primary care practices offer flu clinics, where the only service the practice provides is a flu shot to patients. Under these circumstances, it may be tempting to think that that administering the immunization to a patient who is new to the practice automatically makes the patient established — an important distinction that could result in the practice losing revenue associated with the extra work required by a new patient should that patient return to the practice for a subsequent sick, or even well, visit.

In fact, the kind of immunization service the practice provides will determine the patient’s status to the practice.

Why? Codes 90471/+90472 (Immunization administration (includes percutaneous, intradermal, subcutaneous, or intramuscular injections) …) and 90473/+90474 (Immunization administration by intranasal or oral route …) are generally, though not always, administered by clinical staff such as medical assistants, licensed practical nurses, and registered nurses, rather than physicians or qualified healthcare professionals (QHPs) (defined by CPT^® as “an individual who is qualified by education, training, licensure/regulation [when applicable], and facility privileging [when applicable] who performs a professional service within his/her scope of practice and independently reports that professional service”).

When this happens, and immunization services 90471-+90474 are administered by clinical staff, the services “do not qualify as a professional service [defined by CPT^® as “those face-to-face services rendered by physicians and other qualified health care professionals who may report evaluation and management services reported by a specific CPT^® code(s)”] and therefore the codes do not fulfill the requirement for establishing the patient [defined by CPT^® as “one who has received any professional services from the physician/qualified health care professional or another physician/qualified health care professional of the exact same specialty and subspecialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years”] to the physician and/or practice,” according to Donna Walaszek, CCS-P, billing manager, credentialing/coding specialist for Northampton Area Pediatrics, LLP, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

In other words, once a patient has received one of these services, they may still be regarded as new to the practice because the service was not a face-to-face service rendered by a physician or qualified healthcare professional. This means “your provider can bill a new patient visit when the patient is seen subsequently for a sick visit or well visit following these nurse-visit only services, though payers may have their own rules, which may not be consistent with CPT^® guidelines,” Walaszek advises.

The exception: CPT^® lists one other immunization administration service: 90460/+90461 (Immunization administration through 18 years of age via any route of administration, with counseling by physician or other qualified health care professional …). Unlike 90471/+90472 and 90473/+90474, 90460/+90461 are regarded as professional services, because a physician or a QHP must counsel the patient or the patient’s caregiver about the vaccination to report the service. This means that any patient receiving such services from the same provider or another provider within the same specialty in a group practice within a three-year period must be regarded as established to the practice.

Question 2: Can vaccine administration be reported separately from other services?

Answer: Per CPT^® guidelines, if the provider performs a “significant separately identifiable” E/M service such as 99201-99215 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new/established patient …) or 99381-99396 (Initial/ periodic comprehensive preventive medicine evaluation/reevaluation and management of an individual …), “the appropriate E/M service code should be reported in addition to the vaccine and toxoid administration codes” 90460/+90461, 90471/+90472, and 90473/+90474.

But remember this: If vaccine administration does occur at on the same date of service as an E/M service, modifier 25 (Significant, Separately Identifiable Evaluation and Management Service by the Same Physician or Other Qualified Health Care Professional on the Same Day of the Procedure or Other Service) must be appended to the E/M. Absent this modifier, payment for the E/M code will be bundled into the vaccine administration for those payers following National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) edits.