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Pediatric Coding Alert

Reader Question:

Use Related Codes When Billing for Adolescent Obesity

Published on Wed Jan 01, 2003

Question: We frequently see adolescent patients who are obese. Were using 278.00 (Obesity, unspecified) and 278.01 (Morbid obesity), but insurance carriers almost never reimburse for this. What advice can you offer on getting carriers to reimburse for obesity in adolescents? Wisconsin Reader Answer: Pediatricians are the appropriate physicians to treat and manage obesity in adolescents. However, many insurance companies do not cover obesity management, so pediatricians are forced to find diagnoses for problems that are obesity-related and code for those. Some problems that you can use include chronic fatigue (780.7x), general fatigue (780.79) and shortness of breath (786.05).

If the obese patient also happens to be diabetic, you would use diabetes (250.0x) as a diagnosis code with the associated problem of obesity.  
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