Wiki Dermatology - skin cancer "screening"

abhobson@yahoo.com

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I have worked for a dermatology office for 12 years and we have NEVER coded preventative care. I have had numerous patients call this year and say their insurance plan now covers skin cancer screenings at a dermatology office. Plans that I have encountered so far include UHC, BCBS, and Benefit Administrative Systems. Has any other dermatology office had trouble with this? What is your approach?
 
Skin cancer screenings, from the latest I've heard, have not been established as an effective means to improve outcomes, so I have trouble believing that these payers are covering these, unless it's a particular company plan that has decided they want to add this benefit for their employees. My suspicion would be that the patients who are saying this may not have been given correct information. In your place, I would ask them to contact their payer to get something in writing (there would have to be specific policy language in their plan documents if this was in fact the case) and that they could share with you, and which may also give you some guidance as to how they expect this to be billed. There isn't a code specifically for a skin cancer screening visit and since it's a preventive not a problem-related visit, a regular E/M code wouldn't be appropriate. In the absence of payer instructions on how they wish it to be submitted, I would likely bill it with an unlisted code.
 
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