Miami County adopts Health Department fee schedule lowering nurse assessment fee

Mackenzie Kelly, interim director of the Miami County Health Department, asked the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a new fee schedule for services the department provides and explained a change to the nurse-assessment charge. "As we had discussed this morning, I am asking for your adoption resolution of our proposed fee schedule for our fees for services that we provide at the health department," Kelly said.

Kelly said the department is proposing to reduce the current $120 fee for nurse visits to $50 to match the billable nurse assessment code (99211) and to allow labs, injections and other services to be billed separately. "When we go to bill insurance, I can only bill for that one nurse assessment code, the 99211... reducing that fee to $50 adjusts to what that actual nurse time is, and then we can actually bill for those other services that are being provided," she said.

Commissioner Dideker moved to adopt the resolution; a second was recorded and the motion carried with unanimous approval. The chair confirmed all five commissioners were present before votes were called. The record shows the action as the Board of Health sitting as part of the county commission's session to consider the fee schedule.

The change is intended to align the department's posted patient fee with what third-party payers reimburse while ensuring separate procedure codes are used for lab work or medication administration. The resolution and any supporting fee tables were part of the meeting packet; the board took the formal vote to adopt the schedule during the meeting.

The health department also confirmed the new structure applies to both new and established patients and that other service charges (labs, injections) will remain separate line items on eligible insurance claims. The board offered no further discussion and adopted the resolution unanimously.