News: CDC publishes ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published ICD-10-CM Official Coding and Reporting Guidelines for COVID-19, reported Revenue Cycle Advisor. These new guidelines are effective April 1 through September 30, 2020.

Per the Guidelines, codes for COVID-19 diagnoses are housed in Chapter 1, Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, of the ICD-10-CM manual under the subheading, Coronavirus Infections.

The guidelines include instructions for reporting confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Healthcare professionals are instructed to only code for confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses, as documented by the provider, according to Revenue Cycle Advisor. This means that a physician’s documented statement is enough for confirmation and a test result is not needed. Coders should use code U07.1 (2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease) for confirmed cases. Presumptive positive COVID-19 test results should be coded as confirmed.

The CDC also added a new guideline to Chapter 15, Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Puerperium. If during pregnancy, childbirth, or the puerperium a patient presents for COVID-19, the coder should report a principal diagnosis code from subcategory O98.5- (other viral diseases complicating pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium). This code should be followed by code U07.1 and codes for associated manifestations.

Note that this instruction covers admissions from April 1 through September 30, meaning that the ongoing disagreement over sepsis sequencing that was not addressed will likely be addressed again within the inpatient prospective payment system final rule.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Revenue Cycle Advisor. The Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting can be found here.