Who can perform and bill for the perinatal depression screening?
Medicaid enrolled providers who provide primary care services may bill for perinatal depression screening, using an approved screening instrument. (The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is one such instrument that has been approved.) Primary providers include: Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, General Hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Encounter Rate Clinics, Rural Health Clinics, Certified Health Departments and School Based/Linked Centers. However, Encounter Rate Clinics (ERCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) will not receive separate reimbursement for perinatal depression screenings because ERCs, FQHCs and RHCs are paid an encounter rate that encompasses all services provided during an encounter. ERCs, FQHCs and RHCs should include the appropriate “risk assessment” procedure code on the encounter claim. The screening can be performed during a medical or a behavioral health encounter (for those enrolled FQHCs and RHCs that pro
