New COVID-19 Vaccine Awareness Program (CVAP) Billing Code

On July 2, 2021, Alberta Health implemented a new, temporary billing code for the COVID-19 Vaccine Awareness Program (CVAP):

“HSC 03.01CC may be claimed retroactively by all physicians who have called their patients via telephone or videoconference to address concerns related to COVID-19 vaccine by providing education or counselling.”

As per the bulletin, “effective June 21, 2021, physicians who call their patients residing in the eligible Local Geographical Areas (LGAs) via telephone or videoconference to address concerns related to COVID-19 vaccine by providing education or counselling regarding COVID-19 vaccine to their patients may claim HSC 03.01CC.”

Additional note from the bulletin:

• This is a temporary HSC to support COVID-19 vaccine uptake in LGAs where vaccine uptake is lower than 50 percent.
• All Alberta physicians that have offered this service during the period of May 1, 2021 and June 21, 2021 are also eligible to submit claims retroactively from May 1, 2021.
• May only be claimed for patients who have not received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
• May only be claimed when the physician provides the counselling or education to the patient or their agent regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and the physician or a qualified health care provider determines the eligibility (e.g., immunization status on Netcare) of a patient for the COVID-19 vaccine.
• May be claimed if the physician counsels the patient during the call but the counselling does not result in a patient receiving the COVID-19 vaccine or setting up an appointment for vaccine.
• May not be claimed in addition to any other HSCs except HSC 13.59V and 13.59VA on the same date of service.
• May only be claimed once per patient, per physician.
• May only be billed with diagnostic code 079.82 or 079.8.
• As this is a physician support program, this HSC is not included in the daily patient visit cap.

For more information on the update, read more about it in the latest AHCIP Bulletin.

To ensure you obtain these codes, update your AH Tables via Setup > Load AH Tables:

Ensure you check off Load AH Diagnostic Codes Tables.

For more information on the update, read more about it in the latest AHCIP Bulletin.