Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: A patient comes in to the office for Gardasil injection. What diagnosis should we use for this?

California Subscriber

Answer: Code V04.89 (Need for prophylactic vaccination and inoculation against certain viral diseases; other viral diseases) for Gardasil injections. This vaccine protects women from cervical cancer primarily by preventing infection with human papilloma virus (HPV), specifically HPV strains 16 and 18, which cause the majority of cervical cancer cases. HPV has been identified as the main causative agent for cervical cancer.

The vaccine not only prevents cervical cancer but also prevents other forms of cancer, such as anal, vulvar, vaginal, and penile (therefore, technically, the vaccination could also be given to males, although this is currently not recommended). In addition, Gardasil also prevents women from getting genital warts (venereal warts), which are also caused primarily by HPV strains 6 and 11. Gardasil injections can be given to females as young as 9 years, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends giving them to females 11 to 12 years old giving and catch-up vaccinations to women up to 26 years old.