A new flu season, a new flu vaccine

The season is here. No – not that season, flu vaccine season is here. Let’s go over the basics on coding the visit. First everyone should be aware that there are four trivalent flu vaccines and three quadravalent flu vaccines for this season, all with different CPT codes.

90672: quadravalent live, intranasal

90685: quadravalent split virus, preservative free children aged 6-35 months intramuscular

90686: quadravalent split virus, preservative free children aged 36 months and older intramuscular

90655: trivalen split virus, preservative free children aged 6-35 months intramuscular

90657: trivalent split virus children aged 6-35 months intramuscular

90658: trivalent split virus children aged 36 months and older intramuscular

If your patient is in for any type of visit, simply use the appropriate CPT code for one of the vaccines. Then if the patient is aged younger than 19 years old and you, the physician, have given the vaccine counseling also use 90460 as the vaccine counseling code. If the patient is aged 19 years or older use 90471 if the vaccine is the first intramuscular vaccine given or 90472 if it is the second or third intramuscular vaccine given. If you are giving the intranasal vaccine to this age group then use 90473.

Now if the patient came into the office to just receive the flu vaccine you cannot also use the CPT codes 99211-5. If however you rendered a separate and distinct service, depending on your level of documentation you may use one of those codes.

— Richard Lander, MD, is a pediatrician in private practice in northern New Jersey and is a member of the Infectious Diseases in Children Editorial Board. He is co-chair of the Pediatric Initiative at the Atlantic Health Care System and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.