General Surgery Coding Alert
Look for Long COVID Dx Guidance
Question: Our surgeon stated that a patient had “long COVID” as a secondary diagnosis. What is the correct diagnosis code?> Georgia Subscriber> Answer: You’ll assign U09.9 (Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified) to report a long COVID diagnosis. According to the July 7, 2022, MLN Connects® newsletter, “For a post COVID-19 condition, unspecified, like Long COVID, use code DX U09.9” (www.cms.gov/outreach-and-educationoutreachffsprovpartprogprovider-partnership-email-archive/2022-07-07-mlnc#_Toc107993810). In the newsletter, Medicare also guides you to review the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines on reporting COVID-19. The additional information doesn’t explicitly say “long COVID,” but section I.C.1.g.1.m, “Post COVID-19 Condition,” of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 guidelines instructs you to use one or more codes “for the specific symptom(s) or condition(s) related to the previous COVID-19 infection, if known” and U09.9. Reminder: You shouldn’t assign code U09.9 for symptoms of a current COVID-19 infection. In that case, you’d assign U07.1 (COVID-19) if the patient is diagnosed with the infection.
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