Healthier Patients, Healthier Profits: A Pharmacist’s Guide to Success by Streamlining Vaccine Billing and Administration

Navigating the intricacies of vaccine billing can be intimidating, primarily due to the varying ways vaccines are covered by insurance.

Furthermore, a pharmacist who is willing to invest some resources into finding the right vaccine billing software, these challenges can be overcome, and substantial value can be uncovered for patients and a pharmacist’s bottom line.

Are you ready to find out how?

Pharmacist’s Guide: Mastering Vaccine Administration and Billing with DocStation

As a pharmacist, you play a crucial role in public health through vaccine administration. However, navigating the complexities of vaccine billing can be challenging. This guide will help you streamline your processes for both administering vaccines and ensuring proper reimbursement.

1. Prepare for Vaccine Administration

• Ensure you’re certified as a qualified healthcare professional for immunization administration.
• Set up a dedicated area for vaccine administration that ensures patient privacy.

2. Verify Insurance Coverage

• Before administering any flu or COVID-19 vaccine, use DocStation to quickly check the patient’s insurance coverage.
• DocStation’s payer contract management tool helps you confirm that you’re contracted to bill immunizations with the patient’s insurer.
• Verify coverage for specific vaccines, including flu vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines, all within the DocStation platform.

3. Administer the Vaccine

• Review the patient’s medical history and any contraindications using DocStation’s patient profile feature.
• Administer the vaccine following proper techniques and safety protocols.
• Document the vaccine lot number, expiration date, and injection site directly in DocStation for easy record-keeping.

4. Billing for Vaccine Administration

• DocStation automatically suggests the correct CPT code for the specific vaccine administered.
• The platform includes the appropriate vaccine administration code based on the service provided.
• For Medicare patients, DocStation applies the correct G-code for vaccine administration.
• When administering multiple vaccines on the same date, DocStation helps you use the appropriate coding for each.

5. Document and Submit Claims

DocStation ensures all necessary information is included in the claim:

• Patient information
• Date of service
• Vaccine CPT code
• Administration code
• Diagnosis code
• Charge amount

With DocStation, submit claims in real-time to avoid delays in reimbursement.

6. Monitor and Follow Up on Claims

• Use DocStation’s dashboard to regularly review claim status and reimbursements.
• The platform flags denied claims promptly, allowing you to correct and resubmit efficiently.
• DocStation provides analytics on common denial reasons to help improve future billing practices.

Hint: for Influenza vaccines, use 90686. For COVID-19 vaccine, use 91300.

By leveraging DocStation’s comprehensive features, you’ll be better equipped to provide essential immunization services while ensuring proper reimbursement for your pharmacy. DocStation streamlines the entire process of vaccine administration and billing, allowing you to focus more on patient care and less on paperwork.

Caring for Your Community: Pharmacists on the Front Lines of Health Care

There is a growing shortage of primary care physicians in the United States, estimated to be between 17,800 and 48,000 by 2034.

Now is the moment where pharmacists can step in and decrease the gap in healthcare

Pharmacists are the perfect community-based practitioners who already play a daily vital role in all types of public health.

The role of the pharmacist has always been key but was particularly highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic where they were essential workers in vaccine administration, providing preventive medicine services, and offering healthcare advice.

From providing test kits to helping administer the COVID-19 vaccine, communities worldwide came to glean a new appreciation for the work that pharmacists do on a regular basis.

What You Do Is Important…Ensuring Fair Compensation is Too

Pharmacists have long been integral to the healthcare system, providing essential services that go beyond dispensing medications.

However, despite their significant contributions, ensuring fair compensation for their services is equally important.

Take immunization administration, for example. While most skilled pharmacists know how to administer flu vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines, how many really know how to appropriately bill for them?

Billing for vaccines involves navigating complex federal and private insurance policies, understanding vaccine administration fees and reimbursement rates, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements like the right CPT code for each dose.

Vaccine administration is a complex system, all while trying to complete all the tasks already listed above to be the caregivers their communities need and expect them to be.

As a healthcare provider, most pharmacists don’t go to pharmacy school to master each CPT code or learn the intricacies of dozens of  different insurance coverage plans.

Pharmacists go into their chosen profession for the same reason other medical professionals do.

They want to help people, not fill out forms, chase down CPT codes, and spend their days wondering if yet another claim is going to get denied.

Increasing Revenue: Ways to Get More Compensation from Your Vaccine Administration

While a pharmacist continues to take on a bigger role in the community and federally qualified health centers, it’s important they make secure  proper compensation for the services they’re already doing.

If COVID-19 taught us one thing, it’s that we need people in our healthcare system who understand the vaccine process. However,a pharmacist’s work isn’t sustainable if they aren’t getting paid for it.

Let’s look at some basic principles behind billing for vaccine administration and what you need to do to adequately get paid for it:

Make sure you are contracted to bill immunizations with your desired payers before you begin: Just because you are contracted with a specific payer, doesn’t mean they cover immunizations. Do your research and make sure the immunization you are administering is covered. If it’s not, talk to the patient about how they’re going to pay for it.

Make sure you bill for all you do: Administering immunizations is a service that requires 2 vaccine billing codes for appropriate reimbursement: the actual vaccine and the administration of it. While most pharmacists don’t struggle with remembering to bill for the medication, many forget to adequately bill for their supplies and their staff time.

Train Your Staff: Ensure that all staff involved in vaccine administration and billing are trained on the latest CPT codes and documentation requirements. This can help prevent errors and improve reimbursement rates.

Use Technology to Your Advantage: In today’s modern world, pharmacists have a partner when it comes to the technological advancements that have been made to automate much of the billing complications of the past. Using specialized vaccine billing software to streamline the process and reduce errors can help ensure that all necessary information is included and correctly formatted.

Join the DocStation Family: Revolutionizing Pharmacy Practice

The healthcare landscape needs pharmacists who:

• Understand their community’s unique needs
• Are committed to practicing preventive care
• Can efficiently manage vaccine administration and billing

However, pharmacists can’t do it all alone. They need tools that allow them to provide quality care to patients while maintaining a balanced professional life.

DocStation empowers pharmacists to:

• Streamline vaccine billing processes
• Manage immunization administration efficiently
• Focus on delivering high-quality preventive medicine services
• Optimize revenue from vaccine administration fees

By joining the DocStation family, you’ll gain access to a comprehensive platform that simplifies vaccine billing, allowing you to concentrate on what matters most – your patients’ health and your pharmacy’s success.

Embrace the future of pharmacy practice with DocStation – where quality patient care meets efficient business management.

Help is On the Horizon: Join the DocStation Family Today

The world needs pharmacists like you.

Pharmacists who care.

Pharmacists who understand their community.

Pharmacists who want to practice preventative care, not only hand out pills after sickness has already set in.

Pharmacists can’t do it all alone. They need the tools that are going to allow them to give quality care to their patients while also having a quality life for themselves.

DocStation understands this and is here to empower pharmacists to reclaim their time and focus on what truly matters: first-class medical care and financial freedom.

DocStation is more than just software – it’s an all-in-one pharmacy solutions platform. You will gain access to a comprehensive platform, which allows you to keep track of important medical codes and streamline the entire billing process. You’ll save time and stay organized.

Join DocStation today and experience the freedom to focus on what matters most – your patients and your profits. Reach out today to see how DocStation can help your pharmacy.

Help is on the horizon, and it starts with DocStation.