This year's HCPCS codes show a number of deletions, streamlining your drug coding choices. The drugs that are affected this time are cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and vincristine
This year's HCPCS codes show a number of deletions, streamlining your drug coding choices. All these changes should simplify billing, more so if the system your practice or facility uses limits you to a single code and billable unit for a drug.
Even though these changes have a positive side, there are considerations that will crop up. Say for instance you'll need to be alert for the different and specific national drug code (NDC) numbers for the agent dispensed to the patient when you send a claim to a payer who requires NDC information.
The drugs that are affected this time are cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, and vincristine. Cisplatin is one of the many agents impacted by the HCPCS 2011 shake-up. This year's HCPCS will make a small wording revision to J9060. Last year it read, J9060 -- Injection, cisplatin, powder or solution, per 10 mg. Now it reads, J9060 -- Injection, cisplatin, powder or solution, 10 mg.
What's more, you will no longer be able to use code J9062 (Cisplatin, 50 mg) this year. Instead, you should now use J9060 to report cisplatin, brand name Platinol, when supplied for 2011 DOS.
Cyclophosphamide is an alkalyting agent that works as an antineoplastic and immunosuppressant. So at 1 unit per 100 mg, J9070 won the role of the single option for coding cyclophosphamide injection supply. HCPCS this year deletes codes J9080, J9090, J9091, J9092, J9093, J9094, J9095, J9096 and J9097.
One more antineoplastic affected by the HCPCS revisions is cytarabine, which works to stop DNA replication. HCPCS 2011 keeps the code for the liposomal form: J9098. Apart from this, You also still have one code for the non-liposomal form (Cytosar-U): J9100. HCPCS however deletes the other non-liposomal code, J9110.
Dacarbazine is an antineoplastic. HCPCS 2011 keeps 100 mg code J9130 while it deletes 200 mg code J9140.
As far as Vincristine Codes are concerned, codes J9375 and J9380 Join the deleted list. This year you'll be reporting vincristine per milligram. Code J9370 is still valid this year but you will no longer be able to report larger increments using J9375 or J9380.
When it comes to topotecan, you'll see a swap of one J code for another this year. You should use just-in code J9351 for this topoisomerase type I inhibitor. You should use new code J9351 for this topoisomerase type I inhibitor. But you should no longer report code J9350.
For more on the HCPCS code changes, sign up for a one-stop HCPCS code lookup guide like Supercoder which comes with a HCPCS code lookup tool to assist you in your coding.
