2019-2020 Influenza (Flu) Resources for Health Care Professionals
Date Posted: Friday,
October 18, 2019
PROVIDER TYPES AFFECTED
All health care professionals who order, refer, or provide flu vaccines and vaccine administration to Medicare beneficiaries and submit bills for these services to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs).
PROVIDER ACTION NEEDED
Special Edition (SE) MLN Matters article SE19022 provides information about influenza (flu) resources for health care professionals and providers relevant to the 2019-2020 flu season.
Health care professionals should:
- Keep this article and refer to it throughout the 2019-2020 flu season.
- Take advantage of each office visit as an opportunity to encourage patients to protect themselves from the flu and serious complications by getting a flu shot.
- Continue to provide the flu shot if you have vaccine available, even after the new year.
- Remember to immunize yourself and your staff.
PAYMENT RATES for 2019-2020
Each year, CMS updates the Medicare Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) and Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) codes and payment rates for personal flu and pneumococcal vaccines. Payment allowance limits for such vaccines are 95 percent of the Average Wholesale Price (AWP), except where the vaccine is furnished in a hospital outpatient department, Rural Health Clinic (RHC), or Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). In these cases, the payment for the vaccine is based on reasonable cost.
Annual Part B deductible and coinsurance amounts do not apply. All physicians, non-physician practitioners, and suppliers who administer the influenza virus vaccination and the pneumococcal vaccination must take assignment on the claim for the vaccine.
The following table contains the applicable Medicare Part B payment allowances for HCPCS and CPT codes:
Source: cms.gov
