ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: We heard that a new code came out to describe when the ED physician addresses vaping disorders, but we aren’t seeing it in our 2020 ICD-10 code book. Did we hear wrong information?

Iowa Subscriber

Answer: You heard correctly, but the code was issued too late to make it into most ICD-10 code books. However, the new code will go into effect on April 1, 2020, and you can use it as of that date.

If your physician sees a patient with a disorder related to vaping, you’ll report U07.0 (Vaping-related disorder), according to a directive from the Centers from Disease Control (CDC) outlining the new code.

Notes under the new code indicate that it applies to such conditions as:

• Dabbing related lung damage
• Dabbing related lung injury
• E-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI)
• Electronic cigarette related lung damage
• Electronic cigarette related lung injury

When applying this code, you can also append additional codes to represent manifestations such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (J80), drug-induced interstitial lung disorder (J70.4), or weight loss (R63.4), among others, the CDC noted. 

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