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National Alcohol Awareness Month

Coding Educator, April 19, 2010

By: Peggy S. Blue, MPH, CPC, CCS-P

Three years ago, more than half of Americans aged 12 or older had reported consuming alcohol at least once in the 30 days prior to being surveyed, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Staggering reports like this one have led to the April observance of national alcohol awareness month.

Often times results such as these can be manipulated to strengthen a point of emphasis, but when the study also lists 14.6 percent of Americans in the 12-17 age range having consumed at least one drink in the 30 days prior, transparency speaks an ugly truth. Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined, and people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some time in their lives compared to those who have their first drink at age 20 or older, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Raising awareness amongst young people should be a foremost priority for alcohol awareness, but there are other target demographics within the country that, according to SAMSHA, are most likely to abuse alcohol, which include:

• college students who binge drink at local bars
• pregnant women who drink and put their babies at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome
• professionals who drink after a long day of work
• people who drink out of loneliness

Remember, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are two different conditions. The main term “abuse” with the modifying term alchohol will take you to the 305.0x series. The fifth digit is dependent upon if the abuse is unspecified, continuous, episodic, or in remission. The fifth digit for alcohol dependence have the same values, but the code category is 303.xx. An additional code is required to identify any associated conditions such as alcoholic psychoses, drug dependence or physical complications.

Physicians who spend time at least 15 minutes counseling their patients about alcohol abuse may report 99408 (Alcohol and/or substance abuse structured screening and brief intervention services, 15-30 minutes); if the time is greater than 30 minutes, then use 99409. If this service is done at the same time as an E/M service, be sure to report the appropriate level of E/M with the 25 modifier and the alcohol abuse counseling code.

Responsible drinking is something that is an every day occurrence throughout the United States, and alcohol awareness month isn’t in place to demonize individuals who choose to do so, but people sometimes fail to observe the fact that they or someone they might know has a drinking problem. Certain tell-tell signs of a drinking problem include drinking alone when you feel angry or sad, being late for work because of drinking, causing your family worry by your drinking, drinking after telling yourself you won’t, and more, according to SAMSHA.

Visit http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/seasonal/aprilalcohol/ for more information.

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