Anesthesia Coding Alert

ICD-10 establishes separate fibromyalgia, myalgia, and myositis codes.

If your providers diagnoses a patient with fibromyalgia, your only code choice under ICD-9-CM is 729.1 (Myalgia and myositis, unspecified). That will change in October 2013 with the introduction of ICD-10 and three specific codes for those conditions:

• M60.9 -- Myositis, unspecified
• M79.1 -- Myalgia
• M79.7 -- Fibromyalgia.

These conditions are characterized by muscle or musculoskeletal pain and soft tissue or muscle tenderness. Fibromyalgia patients also experience stiffness, general fatigue, and sleep disturbances. Symptoms of varying intensities increase and decrease over time.

ICD-10 change: Once ICD-10 goes into effect, providers will need to write more detailed notes than "muscle pain" or "muscle weakness." Having specific diagnoses for myositis, myalgia, and fibromyalgia will mean you need more details in order to code accurately. You'll want to include all three choices on your superbill when space allows, as a reminder for your provider to specify which condition the patient has.