G0402 is the “Welcome to Medicare Exam” which is basically a routine physical which can only be done in the first 12 months the patient becomes eligible for Medicare. G0438 is the code for the first, initial, Annual Wellness Visit. All subsequent AWVs are billed using G0439.
Coding procedure code G0402: Initial Preventive Physical Examination; face-to-face visit, services limited to a new patient during the first 12 months of Medicare enrollment. The screening EKG/ ECG is billable with HCPCS code(s) G0403,G0404, or G0405, when it is a result of a referral from an IPPE.
Medicare covers Annual Wellness Visits (AWV) with two codes G0438, Initial AWV, and G0439, Subsequent AWV. See when to use these two codes for your patients
This exam is billed using HCPCS code G0402. An Annual Wellness Visit code of G0438 should not be used — and will be denied — because the patient is eligible for the Welcome to Medicare visit during the first year of enrollment.
Three Unique Codes: G0402, G0438, and G0439 During the first twelve months a patient is enrolled in Medicare, they are eligible for the Welcome to Medicare Visit.
Again, billing is not done using the normal wellness-exam CPT codes (99381-99397) – such claims will be rejected by Medicare as “non-covered services” – but instead one uses new, Medicare-only codes: G0438 for initial visits, and G0439 for subsequent visits. These codes became effective January 1, 2011.
An initial Annual Wellness Visit code is documented using G0438, subsequent Annual Wellness Visits are documented using code G0439. The Annual Routine Physical Exam allows members to seek a separate visit with their physician to discuss general health questions/issues without presenting a specific chief complaint.
Keep in mind that the AWV is not a head-to-toe physical. Also, this service is similar to but separate from the one-time Welcome to Medicare preventive visit. Medicare Part B covers the Annual Wellness Visit if: You have had Part B for over 12 months.
Z00.00ICD-10 Code for Encounter for general adult medical examination without abnormal findings- Z00. 00- Codify by AAPC.
There is a difference between an “annual wellness visit” and an “annual physical exam.” One is focused more on preventing disease and disability, while the other is more focused on checking your current overall health.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) notes that a "routine physical examination" is not covered by Medicare. Thus, Medicare patients will be expected to cover the entire cost of the service (unless supplementary insurance provides coverage).
“Routine” diagnosis codes are considered Preventive. For example: ICD-10-CM codes Z00. 121, Z00.
for longer than 12 months, you can get a yearly “Wellness” visit to develop or update your personalized plan to help prevent disease and disability, based on your current health and risk factors. The yearly “Wellness” visit isn't a physical exam.
They are the IPPE (the “Welcome to Medicare” visit, G0402), the initial AWV (G0438), and the subsequent AWV (G0439).
Is an EKG required during a Welcome to Medicare visit? No. Medicare Part B covers one electrocardiogram screening if you receive a referral from your doctor or other health care provider as part of your one-time Welcome to Medicare preventive visit. However, your doctor will not perform an EKG during your visit.
Though the diagnosis code (ICD-10 code) for the exam is Z00. 00 (general physical exam), the CPT code for the visit is NOT the wellness-exam code range used by every other insurance plan (99381-99397). Instead, it is billed with a Medicare-only code, G0438.
AWV Coding. The two CPT codes used to report AWV services are: G0438 initial visit. G0439 subsequent visit.
Coding and Billing a Medicare AWV Medicare will pay a physician for an AWV service and a medically necessary service, e.g. a mid-level established office visit, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code 99213, furnished during a single beneficiary encounter.
What is G0439? G0439 is the HCPCS code you should use for all subsequent annual wellness visits. Its long descriptor is "Annual wellness visit, includes a personalized prevention plan of service (PPPS), subsequent visit," while its short descriptor is "Annual wellness subseq."
G0403 is the global service, so the provider would need to have completed the ECG test and then provided the interpretation and report. If another place provided the ECG, they would submit G0404. The physician providing the interpretation & report would submit G0405.
Coding procedure code G0402: Initial Preventive Physical Examination; face-to-face visit, services limited to a new patient during the first 12 months of Medicare enrollment.
If the patient is sent to another facility for the EKG/ ECG, the order must read “EKG/ECG as part of the Welcome to Medicare Physical, codes G0366–G0368.” Medicare has instructed that physicians must order the EKG/ECG in a manner that helps to prevent use of codes for EKG/ECGs not related to the initial preventive physical exam.
The Medicare IPPE exam includes seven elements. The exam focuses on identifying modifiable risk factors for medical conditions that frequently affect the elderly, as well as education, counseling and referral for Medicare screening services. The following are the seven elements of Medicare IPPE exam:
There are now 11 preventive services authorized under Medicare Part B. Other covered preventive that are performed may be billed in addition to HCPCS code G0402 and the appropriate EKG G-code (influenza vaccine, mammogram, ect.) Performance and interpretation of an electrocardiogram.
Although providers must report a diagnosis code on the claim, there are no specific ICD-9-CM that are required for the IPPE and EKG/ ECG screening. Providers should choose the appropriate diagnosis code, for example, diagnosis code V70.0, V70.3, or V70.9 could be considered an acceptable diagnosis.
The E/M code should be reported with modifier -25, to identifying the service as significant, separately identifiable. Cost sharing will apply to the E/M service.
Some services are covered at 100 percent of the Medicare allowable charge, and some services are covered at 80 percent of the Medicare allowable charge. In addition, some of the services are covered only if medically indicated. The IPPE will be paid at the appropriate physician fee schedule based on the rendering National Provider Identification (NPI) number.
The 2022 edition of ICD-10-CM Z00.8 became effective on October 1, 2021.
Categories Z00-Z99 are provided for occasions when circumstances other than a disease, injury or external cause classifiable to categories A00 -Y89 are recorded as 'diagnoses' or 'problems'. This can arise in two main ways:
When your patients reach the age of 65 , they have a decision to make: sign up for Medicare Part B, enroll in an HMO, PPO, EPO or pick another type of insurance. At age 65 , patients may be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A – with no sign-up required – which covers hospital, skilled nursing facility, hospice and some home health services. Medicare Part B, which covers physician and outpatient services, is voluntary and requires enrollment. Read more about Medicare coverage here.
G0439 for subsequent AWVs, one visit every 366 days. If you bill this code before the 366 th day since the last AWV, the service will be denied.
If your patients choose to go on Medicare, they will be eligible to receive many different types of medical services and screenings; these are payable services for your practice, as well, and beneficial to the provider. These services are intended to promote health, prevention and detect early diseases. Most of the services do not require coinsurance and/or meeting the deductible waived and are available on the day the beneficiary’s Medicare Part B is effective; a few services, though, may only be covered if the patient is “high risk” or meets specific requirements.
This visit must be coded using CPT G0402. Once a patient has been enrolled for more than twelve months, the G0402 code will be rejected regardless of whether the IPPE visit previously took place or not.
In addition to the primary visit codes (G0402, G0438, and G0439) , a select list of other codes may be billed for services performed during a Welcome to Medicare Visit or Annual Wellness Visit. When using any of these codes, a separate note is required to support each rendered service.
It is important to note that many of these codes have specific guidelines that require them only to be used with specific visits after meeting certain criteria. For example, CPT G0444, which designates a fifteen-minute annual depression screening, may only be included with subsequent wellness visits that are billed under G0439. If that specific code is used with the IPPE or initial AWV, it will be rejected as invalid. An Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening, coded as G0389, may only be performed with the IPPE code G0402 - it is not approved for Annual Wellness Visits.
CPT G0439 is used to code all subsequent Annual Wellness Visits that occur after the initial Annual Wellness Visit (G0438). So, if used correctly, G0439 would not be used until G0402 was used to code the IPPE, and G0438 was used to code the initial AWV. In the case that an IPPE was never completed, G0439 would still be used for any subsequent ...
Medicare preventive wellness visits fall into three categories; the Welcome to Medicare Visit, also known as the Initial Preventive Physical Exam (IPPE), the initial Annual Wellness Visit, and subsequent Annual Wellness Visits. Each has its own Current Procedural Terminology code that must be used in the right circumstances and proper order.
An AWV is similar to the IPPE but includes slightly different required and accepted screenings. This initial AWV must be coded using G0438.
G0513 and G0514 are 'prolonged preventive service codes' that can be used when a service takes 30 minutes (G0513) or 60+ minutes (G0514) past the typical duration of the service.
Medicare has two HCPCS codes for these wellness visits for medical billing purposes. The codes are G0438 and G0439.
The initial AWV, G0438, is performed on patients that have been enrolled with Medicare for more than one year. A patient is eligible for his subsequent AWV, G0439, one year after his initial visit. Remember that during the first year a patient has enrolled with Medicare, he is eligible for the Welcome to Medicare visit or Initial Preventative Physical Exam (IPPE). This exam is billed using HCPCS code G04 02. An Annual Wellness Visit code of G0438 should not be used — and will be denied — because the patient is eligible for the Welcome to Medicare visit during the first year of enrollment. For more information on the Welcome to Medicare visit go-to CMS.
Preventative Medicine codes 99387 and 99397, better known to offices as Complete Physical Exams or Well Checks for 65 and older, still remain a non-covered, routine service from Medicare. The Well Woman Exam codes G0101 and Q0091 are covered services.
An Annual Wellness Visit code of G0438 should not be used — and will be denied — because the patient is eligible for the Welcome to Medicare visit during the first year of enrollment. For more information on the Welcome to Medicare visit go-to CMS.
The HCPCS code for the IPPE (or Welcome to Medicare Physical) uses an E/M code, G0344, and the HCPCS code for the technical component only of the EKG, G0367, has a status indicator of S.
IPPE beneficiary (Initial Preventive Physical Examination) The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act provides for coverage under Part B of one Initial Preventive Physical Examina tion (IPPE) for new beneficiaries only (subject to certain eligibility and other limitations, and effective for services furnished).
The physician or entity shall bill HCPCS code G0403 for performing the complete screening EKG that includes the tracing, interpretation and report.
All subsequent AWVs shall be billed with HCPCS G0439 (Annual Wellness Visit, including PPPS, subsequent visit). In the event that a beneficiary selects a new health professional to complete a subsequent AWV, the new health professional will continue to bill the subsequent AWV with HCPCS G0439.
If the primary physician or qualified NPP performs only the IPPE, he/she shall bill HCPCS code G0344 only. The physician or entity that performs the screening EKG that includes both the interpretation and report shall bill HCPCS code G0366. The physician or entity that performs the screening EKG tracing only (without interpretation and report) shall bill HCPCS code G0367. The physician or entity that performs the interpretation and report only (without the EKG tracing) shall bill HCPCS code G0368. Medicare will pay for a screening EKG only as part of the IPPE. HCPCS codes G0344, G0366, G0367 and G0368 will not be billable codes effective on or after January 1, 2009.
The AWV is a preventive visit available to eligible beneficiaries, and identified by HCPCS codes G0438 (Annual wellness visit, including PPPS, first visit) and G0439 (Annual wellness visit, including PPPS, subsequent visit). Information, including definitions of relevant terms and coverage requirements for the AWV are included in Pub. 100-02, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, chapter 15, section 280.5.
The initial preventive physical examination (IPPE), or “Welcome to Medicare Preventive Visit” is a preventive visit authorized by sections 1861 (s) (2) (w) and 1861 (ww) of the Social Security Act (and implementing regulations at 42 CFR 410.16, 411.15 (a) (1), and 411.15 (k) (11)).
For the first AWV provided on or after January 1, 2011, the health professional shall bill HCPCS G0438 (Annual wellness visit, including PPPS, first visit). This is a once per beneficiary per lifetime allowable Medicare Part B benefit.
As a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), effective for the IPPE provided on or after January 1, 2011, the Medicare deductible and coinsurance (for HCPCS code G0402 only) are waived.
The term “patient” refers to a Medicare beneficiary.
Medicare covers an AWV for all patients who aren’t within 12 months after the eligibility date for their first Medicare Part B benefit period and who didn’t have an IPPE or an AWV within the past 12 months. Medicare pays for only 1 IPPE per patient per lifetime and 1 additional AWV per year thereafter.
There are no limits on the number of times you can report ACP for a certain patient in a certain time period. When billing this patient service multiple times, document the change in the patient’s health status and/or wishes regarding their end-of-life care. Preparing Eligible Medicare Patients for the AWV.
No. Medicare waives both the coinsurance/copayment and the Medicare Part B deductible for the IPPE (HCPCS code G0402). Neither is waived for the screening electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) (HCPCS codes G0403, G0404, or G0405).
The IPPE is an introduction to Medicare and covered benefits and focuses on health promotion, disease prevention, and detection to help patients stay well. We encourage providers to inform patients about the AWV and perform such visits. The SSA explicitly prohibits Medicare coverage for routine physical examinations.
Medicare waives the ACP deductible and coinsurance once per year when billed with the AWV. If the AWV billed with ACP is denied for exceeding the once-per-year limit, Medicare will apply the ACP deductible and coinsurance. The deductible and coinsurance apply when you deliver the ACP outside of the covered AWV.
You must report a diagnosis code when submitting an IPPE claim. Medicare doesn’t require you to document a specific IPPE diagnosis code, so you may choose any diagnosis code consistent with the patient’s exam.