Pediatric Coding Alert

Question: A patient comes to us after failing a school hearing screen but passes our in-office test. What diagnosis code should I use?

Texas Subscriber

Answer: You should use V72.11 (Encounter for hearing examination following failed hearing screening), which ICD-9 introduced in 2007. Use this code when a child fails an initial hearing screening and comes to you for further testing but ends up with no positive results on the audiometry.

Although V72.11 is a V code, it is an acceptable primary diagnosis.

-- Answers to You Be the Coder and Reader Questions provided/reviewed by Quinten Buechner, ACS-FP/GI/PEDS, CPC, CCP, CMSCS, president of ProActive Consultants in Cumberland, Wis.; Barbara J. Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC-OTO, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPC-I, CHCC, president of CRN Healthcare Solutions, a coding and reimbursement consulting firm in Tinton Falls, N.J.; and Richard H. Tuck, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician at PrimeCare of Southeastern Ohio in Zanesville.