Summary & Overview
HCPCS M1282: Patient Screened for Tobacco Use, Identified as Non-User
HCPCS Level II code M1282 documents that a patient was screened for tobacco use and identified as a tobacco non-user. Nationally, standardized capture of tobacco screening status supports preventive care quality measurement, public health surveillance, and care coordination by recording tobacco exposure risk at the point of service. Clear coding of non-user status helps distinguish preventive encounters from tobacco cessation interventions and informs population health reporting.
Key payers covered in this summary include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise overview of the code's clinical intent and service context, typical sites of service where the code is used, and the role of this screening designation in quality measurement and administrative workflows. Where available, benchmarking and payer coverage patterns are summarized; if payer-specific policy details are not present in the source, the document notes that data are not available.
This publication provides clinicians, billing staff, and policy analysts with practical context for use of HCPCS Level II code M1282, including what the code represents, common settings for its application, and the ways it interacts with preventive care documentation and reporting.
Billing Code Overview
HCPCS Level II code M1282 indicates that a patient was screened for tobacco use and identified as a tobacco non-user. This code represents a preventive screening interaction focused on tobacco use assessment.
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Service type: Tobacco use screening / preventive counseling (screening result: tobacco non-user)
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Typical site of service: Primary care clinics, outpatient preventive visits, community health screening settings
Data not available in the input.
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 42-year-old adult presents to a primary care clinic for an annual wellness visit. As part of routine screening, nursing staff administer a standardized tobacco-use screening questionnaire and document that the patient reports never using tobacco products and has no current exposure to tobacco smoke. The clinician briefly reviews the response, confirms the patient is a tobacco non-user, documents the screening result in the medical record, and marks preventive counseling as not indicated. The service is captured for administrative and quality reporting: screening was completed, and the outcome is recorded as a tobacco non-user.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
22 | Increased procedural services | Use when documentation supports substantially greater work or complexity beyond typical tobacco screening workflow (rare). |
23 | Unusual anesthesia | Not applicable to tobacco screening except if an unrelated procedure requiring anesthesia occurred during the same encounter. |