Student Doctor Network Forums - View Single Post - What exactly is a methadone mill? Does it generate high incomes?

Member 333856 · 06-04-2010, 12:45 PM

Couple of questions:

1) Regarding a suboxone practice, is anybody aware if most insurances (private, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) pay for urine drug screens for substance abuse patients? Currently, most urine drug screens are conducted and billed to insurance by pain physicians. Can these same billing codes be used for substance abuse patients?

2) Is anybody aware of the very recent change to Medicare billing codes regarding urine drug screens in which you need an enzyme/immunoassay machine to be able to charge per drug class (9 or 10 drug classes per urine screen)? From what I understand, you no longer can use the simple $10 urine drug screening kit and bill per drug class. Using these cheap kits would only allow you to bill one time for all drug classes decreasing the reimbursement by 9 or 10 times.

3) Finally, do most insurances at this point cover suboxone visits excluding the urine screens (reimbursement for the actual patient visit)?

06-04-2010, 12:45 PM	#30
Member 333856 Junior Member Status: Resident Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 15	Urine Drug Screens Couple of questions: 1) Regarding a suboxone practice, is anybody aware if most insurances (private, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) pay for urine drug screens for substance abuse patients? Currently, most urine drug screens are conducted and billed to insurance by pain physicians. Can these same billing codes be used for substance abuse patients? 2) Is anybody aware of the very recent change to Medicare billing codes regarding urine drug screens in which you need an enzyme/immunoassay machine to be able to charge per drug class (9 or 10 drug classes per urine screen)? From what I understand, you no longer can use the simple $10 urine drug screening kit and bill per drug class. Using these cheap kits would only allow you to bill one time for all drug classes decreasing the reimbursement by 9 or 10 times. 3) Finally, do most insurances at this point cover suboxone visits excluding the urine screens (reimbursement for the actual patient visit)?