"Q" Codes or "J" Codes for Hyaluronate Injections?

Which HCPCS code do you use to submit Hyaluronate injections to ensure a clean claim? The answer lies with your payor!

Medicare no longer recognizes the "J" codes and instructs the use of "Q" codes for Hyaluronate injections depending on which drug is administered.

But this may not hold true for your private payors. Clients and course participants tell us that some commercial payors are not recognizing the "Q" Codes because they are not listed in the 2007 HCPCS book. Instead some private payors are instructing physicians to use the "J" codes because these codes are listed in the original 2007 HCPCS book.

So what do you do?

• Use the "Q" Codes for Medicare – that's for sure!

• Survey other carriers to determine if they are recognizing the "J" or "Q" codes

• Avoid re-work and unnecessary denials by assuming the payor follows Medicare's direction in the use of this new temporary code