READER QUESTIONS:
Injured While Dancing: There's an E Code
Published on Fri Nov 06, 2009
Question: A patient fell at dance class and our pediatrician treated her for a concussion. The dance studio's insurer is asking our office for the external cause code. What is this? New Jersey Subscriber Answer: The code the insurer is looking for is E005.0 (Activities involving dancing and other rhythmic movement; dancing). E codes describe external causes of injuries or accidents. ICD-9 2010 introduced "a fascinating set of codes for 'Activities' like E005.3 (... trampoline) or E007.5 (Activities involving other sports and athletics played as a team or group; soccer)," notes Chip Hart, director of Physician Computer Company's (PCC's) Pediatric Solutions in Winooski, Vt. His favorites are E018.3 (Activities involving playing musical instrument; wind and brass instrument playing) and E019.1 (Activities involving animal care; milking an animal). As a Vermonter, he knows how important tracking dairy injuries is. If you have children or a sibling, you can agree there was [...]
