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Pediatric Coding Alert

Let 3 Markers Guide Your Age-Restricted Diagnosis Coding or Risk MCE Edits

Published on Fri Nov 06, 2009

Prevent fussy-infant claim rejections by following payers' cycle definitions. ICD-9 2010 threw you a curve ball: You have more specific pediatric codes, but you have to know cut-offs for newborn, infant, adolescent, and adult. That's not an easy task. Reference sources have different definitions for the same word, reports Jamie Kurrasch, CPC, at Primary Care Partners PC in Grand Junction, Colo. "This makes applying the correct ICD-9 code difficult." Can You Code 780.91 for a 16-Month-Old Patient? Check out how different cut-off ages affect selecting the ICD-9 code for this case. "The ICD-9 code for fussy infant is 780.91 (Fussy infant [baby])," Kurrasch points out. Problem: One source states an infant is a child below the age of two, and another source states an infant is a child below the age of 12 months, Kurrasch reports. "So if I have a patient that is 16 months old, by one source's [...]
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