Wiki Billing units

[shanamarie]

Good morning!
I’m wondering if someone can help me with figuring out HCPCS units for a drug?
Patient receives 30mg of a drug, the description on the vial is 10mg/5ml and dosing is 2mg/ml. The patient received 3vials.

Wondering if this would be billed as 15 units?

 

[thomas7331]

You haven't given enough information here to be able to tell you the correct number of units because the units you bill will have to be based on the HCPCS code description. The units will equal dosage given to the patient divided by the amount stated in the code description. So for example, your patient received 30 mg, so if the HCPCS code you are billing is for 1 mg of that drug, then you would bill 30 units, but if the HCPCS code is for 10 mg, then you would bill 3 units. The mg/ml figures you've given are the strength of the medication, which does not figure into the calculation of units, unless the provider has documented the dosage in ml instead of in mg. You base the units only on how much of the drug the patient actually received.