Podiatry Coding & Billing Alert

Question: During a level-two evaluation and management (E/M) service for a new patient, my podiatrist documented “pain, R foot around ankle.” I am not sure if I should report this condition with M79.671 or M25.571 as the diagnosis. Which of the two codes is correct?

Alaska Subscriber

Answer: You should report 99202 (Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of a new patient, which requires these 3 key components: an expanded problem focused history; an expanded problem focused examination; straightforward medical decision making …) for your podiatrist’s E/M service. However, the ICD-10 code choice for this encounter will depend upon the exact nature of the patient’s pain.

The ICD-10 index has no entry for “Pain, foot,” although it does direct you to “Pain, limb, lower, foot,” which is coded as M79.67-. However, you should not automatically report that code. You would only choose M79.671 (Pain in right foot) if the pain is in the soft tissue of the patient’s right foot, as the M79- codes are used for “Other and unspecified soft tissue disorders, not elsewhere classified.” Diagnosis M25.571 (Pain in right ankle and joints of right foot), on the other hand, is one of the arthropathy codes (M00-M25), which represent problems with the joints. Go back through your podiatrist’s notes to determine which of the two codes most accurately describes the patient’s condition. As both codes are Excludes2 codes for each other, it is also possible that you could use both in this situation depending on what your provider has documented.