The demand for health services is increasing tremendously owing to the rise of various new health concerns, especially the coronavirus pandemic. With the growing demand for health services, the demand for quality medical coding specialists who can assign the right codes to various conditions and procedures also increases. It is extremely crucial that you employ the right medical coding professionals for your coding process because payers don’t accept your claims if you do not code accurately and at the same time it is important that you present accurate health information to the government and other authorities that study diseases and their treatments.
To tackle the pandemic, vaccines are being administered to the public and to record these vaccine-related procedures, CPT vaccine and vaccine administration codes have been introduced to apply specifically to the vaccine products. Three vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have been approved to begin administration of the vaccine to the public. It is critical for all healthcare providers to give the right codes to the vaccines administered to provide analytical advantages in tracking, allocating and optimizing resources as a part of the immunization program in the USA.
All the medical coding companies and medical coders must update themselves with the new vaccine-specific codes to report immunizations for the new coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2). Unique CPT codes have been allocated to each of the three vaccines that have been approved for immunization. Along with the vaccine codes, unique CPT codes have been given for the administration of all three vaccines.
Here is the list of CPT codes approved for the COVID vaccine and administration.
- 91300: This is for the Pfizer vaccine for intramuscular use for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]). CPT description includes mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative-free, 30 mcg/0.3mL dosage.
- 0001A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine only.
- 0002A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine only.
- 91301: This is for the Moderna vaccine for intramuscular use for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]). CPT description includes vaccine, mRNA-LNP, spike protein, preservative-free, 100 mcg/0.5mL dosage.
- 0011A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the first dose of the Moderna vaccine only.
- 0012A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the second dose of the Moderna vaccine only.
- 91302: This is for the AstraZeneca vaccine for intramuscular use for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]). CPT description includes DNA, spike protein, chimpanzee adenovirus Oxford 1 (ChAdOx1) vector, preservative-free, 5×1010 viral particles/0.5mL dosage.
- 0021A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine only.
- 0022A: This vaccine administration CPT code is specific to the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine only.
Accurate medical coding and billing of the coronavirus vaccine and immunization is imperative for not just timely reimbursement but also for governmental reporting purposes. The CPT codes have been given depending on the vaccine manufacturer and the number of doses being administered. Hence, applying the correct codes will help in tracking and optimizing resources effectively for the immunization.