Get to know the updated medical coding sets for Covid-19

It has been almost a year by now! It wasn’t easy for healthcare professionals and common people to understand and get used to the new normal. Updated medical coding sets for Covid-19 involves various foundational modifications that was designed to make the coding and documentation hassle free and flexible. However, the new normal isn’t leaving us anymore! It’s rather teaching us better ways to live with it.

Apparently medical coding teams will have to face a bit of reprieve this year since learning new procedure codes can be strenuous. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid had approved new codes for Covid-19 in 2021. The CPT code changes for 2021 include, 329 editorial changes, 206 new codes, 69 revised codes and 54 deleted codes.

As per American Medical Association, the CPT coding sets have been increasing with the majority of 63% involving new technology services as explained in category III and continue to expand PLA section of CPT codes in medical coding.

Related Medical Coding sets for Covid-19:

Numerous codes have been introduced in 2021. CPT codes for Covid-19 were introduced last year public health emergency.
87635: This code was used for Infectious agent detection by nucleic acid either DNA or RNA, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or (SARS-CoV-2) Coronavirus disease COVID-19, amplified probe technique.
86328: This code was used for Infectious agent detection by nucleic acid either DNA or RNA; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus disease COVID-19 to report single step antibody testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
86769: This code was used by Antibody; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Coronavirus disease COVID-19 to report multiple-step antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2. .
0202U: This code was used for Infectious disease either bacterial or viral respiratory tract infection, pathogen-specific nucleic acid (DNA or RNA), 22 targets including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), qualitative RT-PCR, nasopharyngeal swab, each pathogen reported as detected or not detected to report particular Respiratory Panel 2.

2020 medical coding sets for Covid-19:

In medical coding, CPT code changes for Covid-19 include the below:
0015M: This code was used for Adrenal cortical tumor, biochemical assay of 25 steroid markers, utilizing 24-hour urine specimen and clinical parameters, prognostic algorithm reported as a clinical risk and integrated clinical steroid risk for adrenal cortical carcinoma, adenoma, or other adrenal malignancy.
0016M: This code was used for Oncology -bladder, mRNA, microarray gene expression profiling of 209 genes, utilizing formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue, algorithm reported as molecular subtype -luminal, luminal infiltrated, basal, basal claudin-low, neuroendocrine-like.

CPT medical coding changes for 2021:

In medical coding, CPT codes 2021 include various categories. New codes in pathology, laboratory and medical sections.
New Category III codes, including computed tomography of the breast along with 3D rendering is involved.
As known, CPT changes 2021 include several revised E/M codes out of which 99201 is deleted.
99202: This code is used for Office and other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient, which requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and immediate medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 15-29 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99203: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient, which requires a medically appropriate history or examination and low level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 30-44 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99204: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient that requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and moderate level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 45-59 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99205: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient, which requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and high level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 60-74 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99211: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient, may not require the presence of a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. Actually, the presenting problems are minimal or less.
99212: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient that requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and straightforward medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 10-19 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99213: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient that requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and low level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 20-29 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99214: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient that requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and moderate level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 30-39 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99215: This code is used for Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient that requires a medically appropriate and accurate history or examination and high level of medical decision making. While utilizing time for code selection, 40-54 minutes of total time is spent on the date of the encounter.
99354: This code is used for Prolonged services in the outpatient setting requiring direct patient contact beyond the time of the usual service, first hour and list separately in addition to code for outpatient Evaluation and Management or psychotherapy service, except with office or other outpatient services (99202, 99203, 99204, 99205, 99212, 99213, 99214, 99215)
99355: This code is used for prolonged services in the outpatient setting requiring direct patient contact beyond the time of the usual service, each additional 30 minutes and list separately in addition to code for prolonged service.
99356: This code is used for prolonged service in the inpatient or observation setting, requiring unit/floor time beyond the usual service, first hour and list separately in addition to code for inpatient or observation Evaluation and Management service.
99415: This code is used for prolonged clinical staff service i.e. the service beyond the highest time in the range of total time of the service during an evaluation and management service in the office or outpatient setting, and direct patient contact with physician supervision, first hour and list separately in addition to code for outpatient Evaluation and Management service.
99416: This code is used for prolonged clinical staff service i.e., the service beyond the highest time in the range of total time of the service during an evaluation and management service in the office or outpatient setting, direct patient contact with physician supervision, each additional 30 minutes and list separately in addition to code for prolonged service.
99487: This code is used for Complex chronic care management services with the following required elements: multiple or two chronic conditions expected to last at least 12 months, or until the death of the patient, chronic conditions place the patient at risk of death, acute exacerbation or decompensating, or functional decline, comprehensive care plan established, implemented, revised, or monitored, moderate or high complexity medical decision making, first 60 minutes of clinical staff time directed by a physician or other qualified health care professional, per calendar month.
99489: This code is used for Complex chronic care management services with the following required elements: multiple or two chronic conditions expected to last at least 12 months, or until the death of the patient, chronic conditions place the patient at risk of death, acute exacerbation or decompensating, or functional decline, comprehensive care plan established, implemented, revised, or monitored, moderate or high complexity medical decision making, each additional 30 minutes of clinical staff time directed by a physician or other qualified health care professional, per calendar month and list separately in addition to code for primary procedure.
99490: This code is used for Chronic care management services with the following required elements: multiple or two chronic conditions expected to last at least 12 months, or until the death of the patient, chronic conditions place the patient at risk of death, acute exacerbation or decompensating, or functional decline, comprehensive care plan established, implemented, revised, or monitored, first 20 minutes of clinical staff time directed by a physician or other qualified health care professional, per calendar month.

ICD-11 Codes for Covid-19:

In ICD-11, the code confirmed for the diagnosis of Covid-19 is RA01.0 and the code for clinical diagnosis is RA01.1
The coding guidelines are very technical and include very few template cases.
However, an emergency ICD-10 code of ‘U07.2 COVID-19, virus not identified’ is assigned to a clinical or epidemiological diagnosis of COVID-19 where the laboratory confirmation is not available.
Two ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2 might be used for mortality coding as cause of death.

Hope you got the information on new medical coding sets for Covid-19. For queries and updates on healthcare, please subscribe to our blog. For suggestions, please comment below. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. For more videos on healthcare, please subscribe our YouTube channel.