What is included in an Initial AWV with PPPS?
The purpose of the annual wellness visit (AWV) under Medicare is to paint a picture of your current state of health and to create a baseline for future care. The Medicare Wellness exam includes the assessments, but none of the “physical” tests where the doctor has to physically touch you.
Whats Included In The Medicare Annual Wellness Exam. First, your primary care doctor will ask you to fill out a questionnaire called a Health Risk Assessment that evaluates your health status, frailty and physical functioning. It also assesses other aspects of your health, such as: Psychosocial risks; Behavioral risks; Activities of daily living
Wellness visit CPT codes G0402, G0438, G0439 – Medicare welcome. G0402 Initial preventive physical examination; face-to-face visit, services limited to new beneficiary during the first 12 months of Medicare enrollment. G0403 Electrocardiogram, routine ECG with 12 leads; performed as a screening for the initial preventive physical examination with interpretation and report.
BILLING AND CODING No specific diagnosis is required for the Annual Wellness Visit, but Z00. 00 or Z00. 01 is appropriate for the Annual Routine Physical Exam.
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.
The two CPT codes used to report AWV services are: G0438 initial visit. G0439 subsequent visit.
If a Medicare beneficiary requests a well-woman exam in conjunction with a “Welcome to Medicare” visit or an AWV, codes G0101 and Q0091 are billable and paid in addition to the “Welcome to Medicare” exam or AWV.To ensure payment, verify the date of the patient's last claim to Medicare for these services.
Medicare does discourage this and says there is too much 'crossover' between these two preventive services. We usually see a 99213 or 99214 with a G0438 or G0439 to represent the problem management outside the AWV. If you bill G0438/G0439 and a 99397, recognize that Medicare does not cover the 99397.
No you cannot bill the AWV with the preventive visit. You can bill the AWV with a separate E/M.
Z00. 00, Encounter for general adult medical examination without abnormal findings, Z00.
If you qualify, Original Medicare covers the Annual Wellness Visit at 100% of the Medicare-approved amount when you receive the service from a participating provider. This means you pay nothing (no deductible or coinsurance).
Physical Exam CPT Codes For New Patients CPT 99384: New patient annual preventive exam (12-17 years). CPT 99385: New patient annual preventive exam (18-39 years). CPT 99386: New patient annual preventive exam (40-64 years). CPT 99387: New patient annual preventive exam (65 years and older).
Z01.419411, Encounter for gynecological examination (general) (routine) with abnormal findings, or Z01. 419, Encounter for gynecological examination (general) (routine) without abnormal findings, may be used as the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for the annual exam performed by an obstetrician–gynecologist.
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.
Per Encoder: An initial preventive physical exam (IPPE) or an annual wellness visit (AWV) is performed in a federally qualified health center (FQHC). This service is payable under the FQHC prospective payment system (PPS). Code G0468 must be accompanied by qualifying visit code G0402, G0438, or G0439.
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.
A - No, the IPPE is the Initial Preventive Physical Examination, also known as the "Welcome to Medicare" visit (G0402), while the initial AWV (G0438) is the patient's first Medicare AWV following the IPPE.
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."
99395- Periodic comprehensive preventive medicine reevaluation and management of an individual including an age and gender appropriate history, examination, counseling/anticipatory guidance/risk factor reduction interventions, and the ordering of laboratory/diagnostic procedures, established patient; 18-39 years.
Coding for these services (for billing) is unique to Medicare. Though the diagnosis code ( ICD-9 code) for the exam is V70.0 (general physical exam), the CPT code for the visit is not the wellness-exam code range used by every other insurance plan – the 99381-99397 codes. Instead, it is billed with a Medicare-only code, G0402 for the initial Welcome To Medicare exam. (Click for updated information regarding ICD-10 codes)
Medicare now covers wellness exams under the Welcome to Medicare code. For as long as the Medicare program has been in existence, coverage for wellness and preventive-care examination have not been part of the traditional benefit. Fee-for-service Medicare had focused on illness-care and chronic disease management.
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.
Annual Wellness visit, including a personalized prevention plan of service (PPPS), subsequent visit. Annual Wellness Visits can be for either new or established patients as the code does not differentiate.
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.
We begin with a discussion of how to bill for the Medicare annual wellness visit. Use the following three HCPCS codes to file claims for AWVs:
Initial preventive physical examination; face-to-face visit, services limited to new beneficiary during the first 12 months of Medicare enrollment
A: All patients who are not within 12 months after the effective date of their first Medicare Part B coverage period and have not received an IPPE or AWV within the past 12 months.
Medicare will cover two cessation attempts per year, with each attempt including a maximum of four intermediate or intensive sessions, with the patient receiving up to eight sessions annually.
Months 2–6: one face-to-face visit every other week. Months 7–12: one face-to-face visit every month (if the patient meets certain requirements) At the 6-month visit, healthcare practitioners must perform a reassessment of obesity and determine amount of weight loss.
Also known as a CVD risk reduction visit , this service is essentially cardiovascular risk counseling. Considering heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, you may not be surprised to learn that this service is often provided with the AWV. Code it as follows:
A: Once in a lifetime for G0438 (i.e., the first AWV) and annually for G0439 (i.e., subsequent AWVs).
Preventive Medicine Service codes are defined by the CPT book as evaluation or reevaluation and management of an individual, including an age- and gender-appropriate history, examination, counseling/anticipatory guidance/risk factor reduction interventions, and the ordering of laboratory/diagnostic procedures.
b. Per the CMS website, the ICD-9-CM Codes billable with the Q0091 are V76.2, V76.47, V76.49, V15.89, and V72.31. Select the appropriate codes. 3. 82270 Fecal Occult Blood Test.
It also notifies Medicare that the patient acknowledges that certain procedures were provided and that the patient will be personally responsible for full payment if Medicare denies payment for a specific procedure or treatment.
3. GY Modifier: Notice of Liability Not Issued, Not Required Under Payer Policy. This modifier is used to obtain a denial on a non-covered service. Use this modifier to notify Medicare that you know this service is excluded.
The G0101 and the Q0091 are the services that are reimbursed and carved out of the regular annual fee. The Medicare reimbursement for the G & Q and patient portion equal the same annual fee that a non-Medicare patient would be charged.
G0101 Cervical or Vaginal Cancer Screening; Pelvic and Clinic Breast Examination. a. G0101 is reimbursed by Medicare every two years unless the patient is considered high risk, and then it is allowed on an annual basis. You must document a minimum of 7 of the 11 elements.
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Here is a direct quote from our friends at MLN: "You must report a diagnosis code when submitting a claim for the AWV. Since you are not required to document a specific diagnosis code for the AWV, you may choose any diagnosis code consistent with the beneficiary’s exam."
Even if the carrier allows it, you probably won't get paid 100% for the second procedure code. Also, keep in mind when the patient comes in for a preventive covered visit, and then ends up with a bill for what the patient might have thought is free, he/she will probably be upset.
If the patient gets wellness exam in which doctor or NP or PA address another chronic illness/problem...this can be included as additional dx on the claim. However ensure link proper Z00 dx code of wellness exam with the CPT 99381 till 99397 and G codes for Medicare payer . If it is not documented by provider on that visit cannot put it down.
I agree; you should be able to bill a low level E/M along with the AWV as long as the documentation supports it (ie, the breathing issue). Our providers have seen patients for their AWV and during the visit, the patient will bring up an acute problem (ex. ankle pain, cough, etc). If time allows in their schedules, our providers will do a workup of the acute problem and the bill a low level E/M with modifier 25. We rarely have issues getting reimbursement from Medicare in these types of situations. As already said, just be sure the documentation clearly states the reason for the added E/M.
So, no, you do not need to code with a Z00- code. However, what these providers are doing is not okay, because it does not really reflect what was addressed in the visit. If they were ever audited, they would be in a lot of trouble!
I believe the provider can bill for both the AWV and an E/M visit with modifier 25. However, both may not be paid. The guidelines state that if the patient has a problem that is addressed and requires significant workup you may report an additional E/M with the AWV. Just make sure that the provider has documented the medical necessity for the admit. Considering that the pt. never indicated anything was wrong could be problematic. Or it may indicate the pt. doesn't realize he's having a problem.