sgrove58
Contributor
How do you code a patient who has depression and anxiety? Do you code the two conditions separately? Or can you use F41.8, which is what our providers are using. This is what I have found == depression and anxiety are not automatically linked. This means you should assign separate codes to the two conditions unless it's documented that they are connected. So, the Coding Clinic recommends you use codes such as F32.9 (Major depressive disorder, single episode, unspecified) and F41.9 (Anxiety disorder, unspecified) “when the documentation has not established a linkage between the depression and the anxiety.” However, it would be appropriate to use F41.8 (Other specified anxiety disorders) when “the provider does indicate a relationship between the two conditions.” That’s because ICD-10 lists anxiety depression (mild or not persistent) and mixed anxiety and depressive disorder as synonyms for the code.