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Wiki Billing smoking, depression and alcohol screening

thicks

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I work for an internal medicine provider. He has started billing tobacco screening 99406, depression screening G0444 and alcohol screening G0442. I understand these are time based codes. Are we able to bill for these services if the patient does not smoke or drink alcohol?
 
99406 isn't a screening code, it's for smoking cessation counseling - you wouldn't bill that unless the patient is a smoker and has requested the provider's assistance in stopping.

G0442 is a screening for alcohol misuse, not for general alcohol use. So that code also would not be used for a patient who doesn't drink alcohol. For a patient who drinks, the time spent is for determining whether or not their level of drinking constitutes misuse of alcohol. If the patient doesn't drink, there would be no need to screen for misuse.
 
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