Internal Medicine Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

J7620 Eases Compound Drug Coding

Question: Our nurse practitioner (NP) administered a nebulizer treatment recently, and I am unsure how to code it. The drug was a compounded inhalation solution made of albuterol and ipratropium bromide. Which J code represents this treatment?

Alabama Subscriber


Answer: The albuterol/ipratropium bromide combination is also called DuoNeb Inhalation Solution. The most accurate J code for this treatment is J7620 (Albuterol, up to 2.5 mg, and ipratropium bromide, up to 0.5 mg, FDA-approved final product, noncompounded, administered through DME). Code J7620 describes one dose of the treatment, so be sure to code for each inhalation treatment on your claim.

Also, be sure to report 94640 (Pressurized or nonpressurized inhalation treatment for acute airway obstruction or for sputum induction for diagnostic purposes [e.g., with an aerosol generator, nebulizer, metered dose inhaler or intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) device]) for the nebulizer treatment.