Forum - Questions & Answers

Jul 31st, 2009 - mlomax

Preventative Coverage for Skin Cancer Screenings

Insurance plans used to not pay for preventtive therapy; therefore we never used preventative procedures and diagnosis codes. Now some plans include skin cancer screenings as part of their coverage but usually it is listed as Preventative Annual Checks without indicating skin screenings.
It has become difficult to determine when doing a skin cancer check if we should code for an OV with the appropriate diagnoses because there is always something found on the skin or code the preventative codes.
Are there any other dermatology offices faced with the same dilemma and how do you approach it? I'm afraid to automatically use the preventative codes and have insuranace deny coverage for patients. When verifying coverage some plans can't even answer the question regarding inclusion of skin checks in their preventative coverage.

Aug 3rd, 2009 -

preventitive skin screenings

We have the same issue of not knowing which plans or contracts cover V76.43. What seems to work best for us is, the patient will call us after receving his/her EOB. The patient will be counseled on cancer screenings, that most insurance companies have coverage for mamograms, paps & pelvics, and prostate but he/she would need to check with the insuarnce company for skin cancer screening. The patient is instructed to call back if there is coverage and we will rebill as preventitive.



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