Summary & Overview
HCPCS Level II J3244: Tigecycline Injection (Accord), 1 mg
HCPCS Level II code J3244 identifies a 1 mg injectable dose of tigecycline supplied as the Accord product and noted as not therapeutically equivalent to J3243. This code is used for billing parenteral administration of the antibiotic in hospital-based and infusion settings, reflecting differentiated product sourcing for tigecycline. Nationally, precise identification of manufacturer-specific injectable biologics and antibiotics matters for formulary management, inventory tracking, and payer adjudication.
Key payers included in this analysis are Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise explanation of the code’s clinical and billing meaning, the typical sites of service where it is used, and an outline of what to expect in supplemental sections covering common modifiers, payer coverage considerations, and related billing elements. The publication highlights benchmarks and policy-relevant topics such as product-specific coding, payer coverage variability, and implications for hospital outpatient departments and inpatient pharmacy billing.
This summary presents national context and practical billing identification for revenue cycle, pharmacy, and clinical teams that must distinguish J3244 from other tigecycline codes when documenting, charging, and reconciling medication administration.
Billing Code Overview
HCPCS Level II code J3244 represents an injection of tigecycline (accord), specified as not therapeutically equivalent to J3243, with a billing unit of 1 mg. The code denotes a single-dose medication administration for the antibiotic tigecycline supplied under the Accord label.
Service type: Drug administration / Injectable antibiotic
Typical site of service: Hospital outpatient infusion center or inpatient facility (parenteral administration)
Data not available in the input for associated taxonomies, ICD-10 diagnoses, and related codes.
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A hospitalized adult patient presents with a severe, complicated intra-abdominal or skin/soft tissue infection that is not responding to first-line agents or has documented multidrug-resistant organisms where tigecycline therapy is appropriate. The treating physician orders intravenous tigecycline for systemic therapy. A pharmacy prepares a measured dose based on weight and concentration; billing uses HCPCS Level II code J3244 to report administration of tigecycline (Accord) per 1 mg unit. Typical workflow: the physician documents the infectious diagnosis and indication for tigecycline in the medical record, the order is placed in the electronic health record with route and dose, nursing verifies patient identity and administers the infusion per institutional protocol, the inpatient pharmacy dispenses and charges the drug using J3244 units, and the hospital billing office submits the claim with appropriate modifiers and associated diagnosis codes. Typical site of service is an inpatient hospital or observation unit; outpatient infusion centers may also administer this agent when clinically indicated. Patient monitoring includes vital signs, assessment for infusion-related reactions, and baseline and periodic labs (liver function tests, CBC) given tigecycline’s safety profile.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
JW |