Healthcare Providers

Billing and Submitting Claims for COVID-19 Vaccines

CareFirst members will pay $0 for any authorized COVID-19 vaccine. Providers will be reimbursed by CareFirst for administration of a vaccine. The vaccine is paid for by the federal government. Providers should not submit claims for the cost of the vaccine.

Effective for dates of service on and after June 8, 2021, CareFirst is increasing fees for in-home vaccinations in alignment with the CMS. Professional providers may bill M0201 in addition to existing vaccine administration codes. This increase is designed to promote vaccine accessibility in vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations.

Submit claims for administration of the vaccine using the appropriate code(s).

Providers who administer a COVID-19 vaccine for a Medicare Advantage member will need to bill Medicare directly for those costs.

Billing and Submitting Commercial Claims for Coronavirus Treatment through August 31, 2021

CareFirst will continue to waive member cost sharing (copays, coinsurance and deductibles) through August 31, 2021 for in-network or out-of-network visits to a provider’s office, lab fees or treatments related to COVID-19. Though CareFirst is waiving out-of-pocket costs, members may experience balance billing from out-of-network providers.

Providers should not collect copays for these services. If a member does owe a copay or coinsurance after the claim is processed, you can bill the member as you do for all other claims.

For a preview of the changes effective September 1, 2021, please refer to this bulletin.

Billing for Monocolonal Antibody Infusion

Billing and Submitting Medicare Advantage Claims for Coronavirus Treatment

CareFirst is waiving cost sharing (copays, coinsurance and deductibles) for in-network or out-of-network visits to a provider’s office for treatments related to COVID-19.

Submit claims (Professional/Facility) with U07.1 (COVID-19) or J12.82 (Pneumonia due to coronavirus disease) as the primary diagnosis.

Cost share will also be waived when certain diagnosis codes for obstetrics, sepsis, or transplant complications are listed as primary with U07.1 or J12.82 as secondary

Submitting Commercial Claims for Office Visits, Urgent Care or ER Visits

Submit claims for office visits, urgent care, or ER visits for the purpose of diagnosing or ordering testing for COVID-19 using ICD-10 primary diagnosis code of Z20.828 regardless of the place of service. Use the following ICD-10 reporting codes for billing COVID-19 treatment:

• Treatment of coronavirus- use code U07.1 as primary diagnosis code
• Treatment of comorbidity symptoms should be submitted with the appropriate diagnosis code

For cases where there was a concern about a possible exposure to COVID-19, but was ruled out after evaluation, submit claims using ICD-10 primary diagnosis code of Z03.818.

Claims for asymptomatic individuals who are being screened for COVID-19, have no known exposure to the virus, and the test results are either unknown or negative, should be submitted using ICD-10 primary diagnosis code Z11.59.

For more information on claims reporting view the CDC’s ICD-10-CM Official Coding and Reporting Guidelines.

Submitting Medicare Advantage Claims for Office Visits, Urgent Care or ER Visits

Submit claims for office visits, urgent care, or ER visits for the purpose of treating COVID-19 using ICD-10 primary diagnosis code of U07.1 regardless of the place of service. J12.82 should be used when treating patients who have pneumonia due to COVID-19.

Billing for Home Births

Home birth services are covered for our commercial members when the member has maternity coverage. When billing for home deliveries, use place of service code 12 and refer to the provider guidelines in the Global Maternity Care Medical Policy (4.0.1.66A) for procedure coding guidance.