Medical Billers are Being Used to Report the Unvaccinated
How a Few Choice ICD-10 Codes are Being Weaponized for Information Reporting
Today, I came across something that really grinds my gears… there are now new medical billing codes that are being utilized to report the vaccination status of patients once they depart their doctor’s offices. Being very familiar with how these codes work and how they are used to make sure practices get paid for the services that are being rendered, I can tell you right now that this is not fucking normal.
Typically, you are only reporting a code for a service or procedure that took place during the patient’s visit. For example, if you perform a physical examination, there is a code for that… if you give a woman a PAP smear, there is a code for that… if a patient is coming in for an office visit, there is a code for that… if you sit and explain a procedure, give someone smoking cessation advice, a prescription for eye drops, or an information pamphlet to take home, there is a code for that. You get the picture. What there is NOT a code for, is when you don’t have anything done. Typically, you would just leave this blank. There is also not a code for whether or not you refused a vaccine, or whether or not you have been previously immunized for something… until now.
On April 1, 2022 the coding system started denoting vaccine status, and since October 1, 2022 there are updated codes that can be entered signifying whether or not someone is:
Fully Vaccinated
Under Vaccinated
Unimmunized
Status-post Unimmunized
and particularly, COVID-19 unvaccinated
I want to sound the alarm on this, because the propensity for this information to be weaponized against us in the future should be of concern to everyone. If you gave someone a vaccine of any kind, you would enter the code in order to make sure you were paid out by the patient’s insurance for the service. Makes sense… what does not make sense is why someone would be required to enter this information based on past injections (or lack of) or if they currently did not receive one. Again, you would just enter nothing if they did not get a vaccine that day. What also interests me is whether or not a payout is being received for codes where no service at all was rendered but is only describing someone’s vaccination status. If that is the case, which we can presume it is, it means that practices are getting payouts for recording vaccine status and reporting it to insurance companies.
What reason could there be for wanting to make sure this information is logged? What other entities are going to have access to this information? Will insurance companies utilize this information to upcharge patients who are not fully vaccinated? I think these are questions that deserve to be answered.
SOURCES:
https://www.aapc.com/blog/82697-reporting-covid-19-vaccination-status-in-2022/
https://www.aafp.org/pubs/fpm/blogs/gettingpaid/entry/covid_immunization_codes.html
https://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/Z00-Z99/Z20-Z29/Z28-/Z28.310
https://www.cms.gov/medicare/icd-10/2022-icd-10-cm
The only solution, IMHO, is to unplug from that system.
After working mostly "permanent" jobs (they actually used to call them that!), meaning either hourly or salaried, but a direct employee of some company, I started working "contract work" (even "permanent" jobs have a contract! So confusing!) around 1995. I mostly have not had "health care insurance" since then, ~28 years. I mostly have not seen doctors since then either. I mostly don't use or rely upon prescription pharmaceuticals.
I know if I get physical trauma, or chronic illness, there is almost no avoiding hospitals/doctors. But I've been mostly healthy, no car accidents, and a vegetarian since then. I also don't watch TV. Both of those I think help me to be happy and healthy.
thanks for sharing this!