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Billing for smoking cessation treatment

Billing codes for smoking cessation counselling

Nicotine dependence is regarded as a mental health issue; therefore, physicians can bill for smoking cessation counselling. Each province and territory has its own billing schedule. In Ontario, for example, in addition to fee schedule codes A001, A007 and K013, physicians can bill K005 (primary mental health care) as long as they document a visit of at least 20 minutes.

As of January 2008, physicians in Ontario can also bill:

  • E079, "Initial discussion with patient re: Smoking cessation" . This code can be billed in conjunction with other primary care codes (see p. A21 in the schedule). Billing this extra fee implies that you have documented a brief assessment of the patient's smoking status. 
  • K039, "Smoking cessation follow-up visit" . This code can be billed for up to two follow-up sessions within 12 months of billing E079. The MOHLTC form includes a space for these assessments, but all that is required is an indication that you briefly followed up on the patient's smoking status and reviewed the five As.

Information about provincial billing codes


The Primary Care Addiction Toolkit: