Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: Is there a diagnosis code we can report for medication monitoring? We need this for instances such as when we order screening lab work.


Tennessee Subscriber


Answer: If at all possible, use a diagnosis code that represents any signs or symptoms that the patient has. For example, if you are performing the medication monitoring because the patient suddenly started to have joint pain, report a code from the 719.4x series (Pain in joint) with the drug screening.

If you order a screening for an asymptomatic or nonacute patient, you should report a code from the V58.6 series.

According to Chapter 18 of the ICD-9 Guidelines (Section 1C), -Assign a code from subcategory V58.6, Long-term (current) drug use, if the patient is receiving a medication for an extended period as a prophylactic measure (such as for the prevention of deep vein thrombosis) or as treatment of a chronic condition (such as arthritis) or a disease requiring a lengthy course of treatment (such as cancer). Do not assign a code from subcategory V58.6 for medication being administered for a brief period of time to treat an acute illness or injury (such as a course of antibiotics to treat acute bronchitis).-