Primary Care Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Add U07.0 to Code for Vaping Disorder

Published on Thu Feb 20, 2020

Question: Thank you for your recent article on coding for vaping-related conditions [see Primary Care Coding Alert volume 22 number 1]. Since that article was published, I’ve heard that there has been a further development on this topic. Do you know anything about this?

Connecticut Subscriber

Answer: Yes, you are correct — since the article was published, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a new ICD-10 code specifically for lung conditions resulting from vaping. The new code, U07.0 (Vaping-related disorder), is a Chapter 22 code, which is a brand new ICD-10 chapter the World Health Organization (WHO) has created for special purposes.

Within the U00-U85 codes that have been set aside for this chapter lies a new section of codes, U00-U49, where “new diseases of uncertain etiology or emergency use” will be assigned provisionally, according to the note accompanying the code group.

This may mean that either the WHO or the CDC could, at some future date, assign another code, or codes, to the condition.

How to use U07.0: According to the addenda listing, which you can find at www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/Chapter-22-new-vaping-code-FINAL3.pdf, the code can be used for lung injury or damage resulting from “dabbing” (which is the “the act of heating a sticky oil or wax of concentrated THC extracted from cannabis and inhaling the vapors,” according to Merriam-Webster — see www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-is-dabbing) or electronic cigarette use, and for lung injury resulting from EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product-use-associated lung injury).

The code is accompanied by an instruction that tells you to use an additional code to identify manifestations such as: