Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: A patient presented to our pulmonology practice with fatigue that affects their daily life, a lingering cough, difficulty breathing, and dizziness when they stand up. The patient stated they had COVID three months ago but are still experiencing these symptoms. The pulmonologist diagnosed the patient with long COVID.

Is there an ICD-10-CM code for long COVID?

California Subscriber

Answer: You’ll assign U09.9 (Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified) to report a long COVID diagnosis.

According to the July 7, 2022, MLN Connects^® newsletter, “For a post COVID-19 condition, unspecified, like Long COVID, use code DX U09.9” (www.cms.gov/outreach-and-educationoutreachffsprovpartprogprovider-partnership-email-archive/2022-07-07-mlnc#_Toc107993810).

In the newsletter, Medicare also guides you to review the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines on reporting COVID-19. The additional information doesn’t explicitly say “long COVID,” but section I.C.1.g.1.m, “Post COVID-19 Condition,” of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 guidelines instructs you to use one or more codes “for the specific symptom(s) or condition(s) related to the previous COVID-19 infection, if known” and U09.9.

Reminder: You shouldn’t assign code U09.9 for symptoms of a current COVID-19 infection. In that case, you’d assign U07.1 (COVID-19) if the patient is diagnosed with the infection.