Pediatric Coding Alert

Question: I'm coding for a newborn who was normal for the first two days and developed tachypnea on the third day. How do we code the shift in status?Louisiana SubscriberAnswer: If you're coding a continuous hospital stay, switch to the subsequent hospital visit codes for the third day (99231-99233, Subsequent hospital care, per day, for the evaluation and management of a patient ...).Your coding changes if the infant went home and returned with the problem. In that case, start with an initial hospital visit (99221-99223, Initial hospital care, per day, for the evaluation and management of a patient ...) or initial observation code (99218-99220, Initial observation care, per day, for the evaluation and management of a patient ...), depending on the patient's status and the provider's documentation.Starting point: Your coding for the newborn's first two days remains the same. Submit 99460 (Initial hospital or birthing center care, per day, for evaluation [...]