General Surgery Coding Alert

Question: Our surgeons have noted that they sometimes encounter patients who have symptoms of long COVID, and that the condition impacts their medical decision making regarding decisions for surgery. Is there a diagnosis code for long COVID that would help us document this factor?

New Jersey Subscriber

Answer: Yes, the appropriate code to indicate “long-COVID” is U09.9 (Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified).

ICD-10-CM includes a “code first” indicator for U09.9 that states you should identify the specific condition that relates to COVID-19, if known, such as J84.10 (Pulmonary fibrosis, unspecified).

A recent MLN Connects provides additional insight on this matter (www.cms.gov/outreach-and-educationou treachffsprovpartprogprovider-partnership-email-archive/2022- 07-07-mlnc#_Toc107993810). The article directs you to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for additional information on reporting COVID-19. The guidelines don’t use the term long COVID, but Medicare specifically points to pages 30-31 of the 2022 guidelines. Those pages include Section I.C.1.g.1.m, “Post COVID-19 Condition.”

That section states, “For sequela of COVID-19, or associated symptoms or conditions that develop following a previous COVID-19 infection, assign a code(s) for the specific symptom(s) or condition(s) related to the previous COVID-19 infection, if known, and code U09.9, Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified.”