Pediatric Coding Alert

Under ICD-10, you’ll say goodbye to 789.7.

Pediatric practices are absolutely familiar with the condition “colic,” which is marked by excessive crying in an otherwise healthy baby. This condition can be extremely stressful for parents who are eager to find a way to ease their baby’s fussiness and bring the patient in for examination and counseling about how to treat the condition and deal with the crying.

If you see a large number of colicky babies, you’ve probably got 789.7 (Colic NOS) burned into your brain, but that will change as of Oct. 1, 2014, when the ICD-10 coding system takes over and 789.7 is wiped away into oblivion.

ICD-10 Changes:When the ICD-10 transition takes place, you’ll still look to a single code to describe patients with colic, and that will be R10.83 (Colic NOS; infantile colic).This is an example of a direct, clear crosswalk from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

Documentation: You should continue to document colic notes clearly, including information about how long the symptoms have persisted, and the timing of when it happens most often.

Coder Tips:When the ICD-10 transition gets close, you’ll want to delete 789.7 from your superbills and other internal documents, and replace those instances with code R10.83.