Primary Care Coding Alert

Question: I’ve coded urinary tract infections (UTIs) several times, but my colleagues are telling me the coding is different for patients who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant. What is the correct code for those patients?

California Subscriber

Answer: It’s true that coding for UTIs is generally pretty straightforward. If you know the site of the infection, the codes are pretty easy to find in Chapter 14: Diseases of Genitourinary System (N00-N99). Even though the organisms that cause UTIs during pregnancy are usually the same as those that cause UTIs in non-pregnant patients, the coding is a little different.

Most often, you’ll use a code from the O23.- (Infections of genitourinary tract in pregnancy) group, which contains a “Use additional code” instruction for bacterial etiology coded to B95.- or B96.-. But you’ll use a code from O86.2- (Urinary tract infection following delivery) for patients diagnosed with a UTI after giving birth. And you’ll also find pregnancy-related UTI codes among the Pregnancy with abortive outcome (O00-O08) codes should your provider document the condition. For example, you may report O03.38 (Urinary tract infection following incomplete spontaneous abortion) in the case of a UTI following an incomplete spontaneous abortion.