Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Published on Thu Mar 11, 2021 PDF

Tip: Review your state’s online guidance, too.

Whether you’re part of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, advising Medicare beneficiaries on inoculation, or alleviating staff concerns, there are many online tools that address even the most challenging questions — and they are all free.

Take a look at five top resources for vaccine administration and planning:

1. Medicare: Several Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) toolkits offer guidance for healthcare providers ramping up their vaccination plans. “These resources are designed to increase the number of providers that can administer the vaccine and ensure adequate reimbursement for administering the vaccine in Medicare,” CMS says on its vaccine hub.

The agency toolkits provide Medicare-specific COVID-19 vaccination guidance on enrollment and billing for shot administration; coding, billing, and reimbursement for COVID-19 shots; beneficiary incentives; quality reporting; SNF enforcement discretion for pharmacy immunizers; and COVID-19 therapies and subsequent add-on payments. Access the Medicare tools at www.cms.gov/covidvax-provider.

2. CDC: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers an array of vaccination information toolkits, including ones for clinicians, essential workers, and community-based organizations, at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/toolkits/index.html. The kits aim to help you “build confidence about COVID-19 vaccination among your healthcare teams … and staff,” the CDC says.

3. ONC: If you’re looking for a plethora of health IT advice all in one place, then the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Information Technology (ONC) COVID-19 response page is the ticket. “Health IT now plays a crucial role in the collecting and reporting of COVID-19 data. Additionally, electronic health information exchange can facilitate effective strategies to combat COVID-19,” ONC says in its guidance. Examine the various options, including insight on data collecting, cybersecurity, testing, tracking, and more at www.healthit.gov/coronavirus.

4. FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) delves deeply into the nuances of the COVID-19 vaccines with scientific and health perspectives to allay provider, patient, and industry concerns. The guidance includes a mix of fact sheets, FAQs, videos, and more on topics like vaccine basics, research and future vaccines, the emergency use authorization (EUA) process, and healthcare tips. Review the FDA guidance at www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines.

Bonus: The FDA fact sheets on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine are available for both providers and recipients/caregivers. The offering for healthcare providers administering the vaccine has been translated into six different languages while the patient guidance is available in 27 different languages.

5. Clinician organizations: Many professional groups have created reference guides on the COVID-19 vaccines. Two of the biggest, the AMA and the American Nurses Association (ANA), offer clinicians advice on shot administration, but also patient engagement, ethics, health equity, liability, mental health, and staffing. You can find the AMA tools and resources at www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/ama-covid-19-guides-health-care-professionals and the ANA guidance at www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness/coronavirus.

Tip: Specialists may want to check out pertinent professional organizations for specialty-focused assistance. You may not be part of the vaccination rollout — but that doesn’t mean your patients won’t ask questions or need clinical advice. This is especially true if you care for patients with chronic diseases who need your medical input before deciding on vaccination.

Reminder: Though the Biden administration recommends how the vaccines should be dispensed and administered, those final decisions are up to the states — and each one is handling it differently. State tools vary, but most include vaccine management and registration advice, including dashboards with modules, FAQs, patient engagement tips, graphics, inventory, IT assistance, and facility-specific insight.

Check with your individual state to find available resources.