Chlamydia Screening Information and other resources

Date: March 24, 2025

Attention: Obstetric Care Providers and Primary Care Providers

Call to action: A reminder about Texas Children’s Health Plan’s (TCHP) Women’s Health HEDIS® Quick Reference Chlamydia Screening in Women (CHL). This resource contains expanded information on the following and billing guidance for proper coding and accurate documentation.

To access all HEDIS® Quick Reference tool kits visit this page https://www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/providers/provider-resources/hedis-toolkits

Annual chlamydia screening is recommended for all sexually active women ages 16 to 24, as well as older women with risk factors such as new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted infection.

Why it matters?
Chlamydia is the most commonly reported bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the United States. It occurs most often among adolescent and young adult females. Untreated chlamydia infections can lead to serious and irreversible complications. This includes pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), infertility and increased risk of becoming infected with HIV. Screening is important, as approximately 75% of chlamydia infections in women and 95% of infections in men are asymptomatic. This results in delayed medical care and treatment¹. Source: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-147-2-200707170-00173

Best Practices:

Consider universal chlamydia screening for all women ages 16-24 years old regardless of risk, especially during any visit where oral contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections (STI), or urinary tract symptoms are discussed.
Chlamydia screening may not be captured via claims if the service is performedand billed under prenatal and postpartum global billing; provide timely submission of claims with correct service coding and diagnosis.
Educate minors about their privacy rights under HIPPA, emphasizing parental consent is not required for testing or treatment of STIs.
Utilize EHR functions that coordinate care between providers (e.g. Epic’s Care Everywhere).
Documentation should specify the chlamydia-screening test date, or date the test was performed, and the test results.

Next steps for providers: Providers should refer applicable patients to our Young Adult Landing Page available here, www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/youngadult for more information on transitioning to adulthood, wellness visits, sexual health, mental wellness, our Value-Added Services program, and other topics affecting the 16-21 year old population.

TCHP invites you to watch a presentation on Promoting Women’s Health available here .

Providers must report positive chlamydia results to the state of Texas. For information regarding Texas’ STD Reporting Requirements, go to https://www.dshs.texas.gov/hivstd/reporting.

If you have any questions, please email Provider Relations at: providerrelations@texaschildrens.org.

For access to all provider alerts: https://www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/providers/provider-news/provider-alerts.