Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: When a patient reports to the physician for a tuberculosis (TB) skin test, can we report the injection separately with 90772? Missouri Subscriber Answer: No, you cannot report 90772 (Therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic injection [specify substance or drug]; subcutaneous or intramuscular) on this claim. The TB test is not a subcutaneous or intramuscular injection, and the code for the TB skin test includes the injection service. On the claim, report the following: - 86580 (Skin test; tuberculosis, intradermal) for the test with V74.1 (Special screening examination for bacterial and spirochetal diseases; pulmonary tuberculosis) linked to show the reason for the test. Exposure means another Dx: If the patient has had known exposure to an individual with TB, you may add V01.1 (Contact with or exposure to communicable diseases; tuberculosis) to the claim. You may be tempted to use V03.2 (Need for prophylactic vaccination and inoculation against bacterial diseases; tuberculosis [BCG]) instead of V74.1. But because the injection is for testing and not for a BCG inoculation, you should use V74.1.