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Primary Care Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Apply No Age Limit to Feeding-Difficulties Code

Published on Fri Sep 02, 2005

Question: Until what age of patient can I report feeding difficulties with 783.3?

Kansas Subscriber Answer: No age restriction exists for 783.3 (Feeding difficulties and mismanagement). The term "infant" is in parentheses under code 783.3. A parenthetical notation is a nonessential modifier to the code and does not affect code assignment.
 
In fact, ICD-9 also includes "elderly" in parentheses following 783.3's descriptor. Obviously, a patient can't be both elderly and an infant. The parentheses enclose information that is supplementary but doesn't affect the code assignment. Therefore, you can apply this code to any patient who has feeding problems.
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