# Hypoglycemia and DM ICD-9 coding



## chthompson (Dec 23, 2009)

I'm a little confused about the differences between 251.2 and 249.8.  Does the provider need to be more specific and state that the hypoglycemia is secondary to the diabetes?  

Would the following example (Diagnosis #1 and #4) be coded as: 
249.80 & 250.80   OR  251.2 & 250.00 ???

1. Hypoglycemia
2. Hypotension, which may be related to the above.  There is concern for an early sepsis syndrome. 
3.  End-stage renal disease
4. Diabetes mellitus

I look forward to your responses, thank you!


----------



## mitchellde (Dec 23, 2009)

you are confused as to what 249 represents.  249 is for secondary diabetes, in other words diabetes cause by some factor other than genetics or environemtal.  Such as a steriod toxicity can cause diabetes, this is then secondary diabetes.  Pancreatic cancer can cause secondary diabetes.  look in the coding guidelines for more information on the correct application of the 249 and the 251 categories.


----------



## chthompson (Dec 23, 2009)

Thank you, I appreciate your help! I reviewed the ICD-9 guidelines and I understand now.


----------

