# allerigic reaction to medication



## kpatzer (Apr 3, 2012)

I have a patient that had an allergic reaction to bactrim. I was going to code it out of the table of drugs and chemicals using code e856 since i know that the reaction was due to bactrim, but I didn't think i could use the ecode as the primary code. How would I code this?


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## RebeccaWoodward* (Apr 3, 2012)

kpatzer said:


> I have a patient that had an allergic reaction to bactrim. I was going to code it out of the table of drugs and chemicals using code e856 since i know that the reaction was due to bactrim, but I didn't think i could use the ecode as the primary code. How would I code this?



Solely based on what you stated, have you looked at the catagory 995.27 series ?


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## kpatzer (Apr 3, 2012)

I did look at that, but it says under that category it says "specified drug or substance - see table of drugs and chemical" which is where I found the e-code. I'm leaning towards using 995.27 as primary with e code 856 as secondary diagnosis


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## mlwcpc (Apr 3, 2012)

I believe you need to first code out that it is an allergic reaction 995.27 ( allergic reaction to medication even if it was properly taken) this can only be used if outpt though no inpt setting. Then I would code out the medication from the table of drugs ( this is still considered a poisoning because the pt had an adverse reaction to it),  then I would use the E codes that you have found. I hope this helps.


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## mitchellde (Apr 3, 2012)

If you look into the guidelines it will tell you to code first the reaction, was it hives, nausea, tachycardia, etc.   followed by the E code for adverse reaction.
961.0 is a code for poisoning meaning the patient took the drug incorrectly in which case it is not an allergic reaction.  
E856 is a code for poisoning by substance as well and is for use when the substance is taken incorrectly.
The 995.2x  codes are for allergic reactions that cannot be specified with any other code.
AHA Coding Clinic also specify for adverse or allergic reactions to therapeutic substances you code the reaction first followed by the E code for adverse reaction to substance.


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