how to code using icd-10 for mental health

by Milford West 9 min read

ICD-10 codes between F30 and F39 will be used to specify any form of mood affective disorder. F40-F49 ICD-10 codes will be used to specify mental disorders involving anxiety, dissociative stress related Somatoform

Somatic Symptom Disorder

Significant focus on physical symptoms like pain or fatigue which causes emotional distress and difficulties in activities of daily living.

and other forms of Nonpsychotic Mental disorders.

The most used ICD-10 code for anxiety was for F41.
...
Top Billed ICD-10 Codes.
RankCodeDiagnosis
1F41.1Generalized anxiety disorder
2F43.23Adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressive mood
3F33.1Major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate
4F43.22Adjustment disorder with anxiety
16 more rows
Jan 12, 2022

Full Answer

What are the mental health diagnosis codes?

The most common ICD 10 codes for mental and behavioral health therapists and practitioners are: F32.9 Major depressive disorder, single episode, unspecified F32.0 Major depressive disorder, single episode, mild F32.1 Major depressive disorder, single episode, mild F32.1 Major depressive disorder, single episode, moderate

What is a diagnosis code?

Diagnosis code. In health care, diagnosis codes are used as a tool to group and identify diseases, disorders, symptoms, poisonings, adverse effects of drugs & chemicals, injuries and other reasons for patient encounters.

What are the diagnosis codes for substance abuse?

Diagnosis Code F19.19. ICD-10: F19.19. Short Description: Oth psychoactive substance abuse w unsp disorder. Long Description: Other psychoactive substance abuse with unspecified psychoactive substance-induced disorder. This is the 2019 version of the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code F19.19.

See more

image

What is the ICD-10 code for mental health?

Mental disorder, not otherwise specified F99 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes. The 2022 edition of ICD-10-CM F99 became effective on October 1, 2021.

How do you code mental health?

CPT Codes for Mental Health90837 – Psychotherapy, 60 minutes.90834 – Psychotherapy, 45 minutes.90791 – Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation without medical services.90847 – Family psychotherapy (with client present), 50 minutes.90853 – Group psychotherapy (other than of a multiple-family group)More items...

What coding system is used in mental health for diagnosis?

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is widely used for training and diagnostic purposes across mental health professions in the U.S., and contains ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes as well as diagnostic criteria.

How does ICD-10 classify mental disorders?

F1: Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of psychoactive substances. F2: Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders. F3: Mood [affective] disorders. F4: Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders.

What is the ICD-10 code for counseling?

Z71.9ICD-10 code Z71. 9 for Counseling, unspecified is a medical classification as listed by WHO under the range - Factors influencing health status and contact with health services .

How do you code depression and anxiety?

2 Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder.

What is ICD used for psychology?

Most psychologists were trained using some version of DSM. For other health care providers, the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) – which contains a chapter on mental disorders – is the classification standard.

Are Z codes billable for mental health?

In some cases, Z codes are not covered by insurance. So, even if you can treat and code the unique symptoms, billing a patient becomes problematic. This is why many therapists opt not to use Z codes, as it may result in time wastage if an insurance company rejects the claim.

When do you use 90837?

As defined by the CPT, 90834 should be used when you spend an estimated 38–52 minutes on therapy with the client, and 90837 is for all therapy sessions that are at least 53 minutes long.

What are the 4 main classifications of mental disorders?

mood disorders (such as depression or bipolar disorder) anxiety disorders. personality disorders. psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia)

How do we classify mental disorders?

Today, the two most widely established systems of psychiatric classification are the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification for Diseases (ICD).

What are the 6 main classifications of mental disorders?

SummaryAnxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias.Depression, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders.Eating disorders.Personality disorders.Post-traumatic stress disorder.Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia.

What is the CPT code for mental health assessment?

CPT Code 96127 (brief emotional /behavioral assessment) can be billed for a variety of screening tools, including the PHQ-9 for depression, as well as other standardized screens for ADHD, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, suicide risk • For depression, use in conjunction with the ICD-10 diagnosis code Z13.

Are Z codes billable for mental health?

In some cases, Z codes are not covered by insurance. So, even if you can treat and code the unique symptoms, billing a patient becomes problematic. This is why many therapists opt not to use Z codes, as it may result in time wastage if an insurance company rejects the claim.

Can 99214 and 90837 be billed together?

The claim will be denied if box 24J or box 31 are filled out incorrectly. Medication management (evaluation and management) and psychotherapy Do not bill CPT codes 99201-99215 and 90832 or 90834 or 90837. It is acceptable to bill CPT codes 99201-99215 and 90833 or 90836 or 90838.

When do you use 90837?

As defined by the CPT, 90834 should be used when you spend an estimated 38–52 minutes on therapy with the client, and 90837 is for all therapy sessions that are at least 53 minutes long.

What is a Z code?

Z-Codes are diagnosis codes related to factors influencing the health status of an individual or conditions relating to that individual warranting clinical attention. For mental health providers, Z-code diagnoses are often best rendered alongside a F-Code diagnoses. ( Source) ( Source)

What is the ICd 10 code for mental health?

ICD-10 diagnosis codes for mental health cover a range of “F-codes” between: F10.50 to F99.

What is a DMS-5?

The DMS-5 describes the use of Z-Codes to describe conditions impacting that client warranting clinical attention. Common examples are Inadequate Housing (Z59.0) or Victim of a Crime (Z65.4) ( Source ).

When was ICd 9 updated?

ICD-9 was updated to ICD-10 coding on October 1st, 2015. Coding changed from the use of ICD-9 diagnoses to ICD-10 diagnoses to match the recent DSM5 update in 2013, enumerating many more diagnoses.

What Are The Most Common ICD 10 Codes For Mental & Behavioral Health Practitioners?

There are a few ICD 10 codes that you see frequently being used by mental & behavioral health practitioners. This includes the following:

What Is Undercoding & Upcoding?

This is when a CPT code is used that represents a lower-priced treatment or a lesser diagnosis. While it can be done accidentally most cases of a physician under coding are usually intentional, as a way to provide their patient with a lower cost for services rendered. Though sometimes under coding occurs to avoid an audit from an insurance company or other payer institution. Unfortunately, under coding is illegal, and may have consequences even if it was done unintentionally.

Are CPT Codes & ICD-10 Codes Related To DSM Codes?

While you might feel encouraged by the fact that only around 1% of CPT codes are common in the mental healthcare domain, that these codes have important connections to ICD-10 and DSM codes. This means that the physician, therapist, and/or their administrative staff also need to avail themselves of these codes and stay abreast of any changes.

How Are ICD 10 & DSM 5 To CPT Codes?

The first step in understanding the relationship between ICD 10 & DSM 5 and CPT Codes starts with taking a closer look at the relationship between ICD 10 and DSM 5 codes. It’s important to note that both ICD-10 and DSM 5 codes are used for diagnosis, though there are a few key differences.

What is upcoding in CPT?

Upcoding. This is when a physician uses a CPT code that represents a higher-priced treatment or a more significant diagnosis. In many of these cases, upcoding is done intentionally to receive a higher reimbursement rate from the insurance provider or payer institution.

Why are CPT codes important?

When it comes to efficient medical billing practices CPT codes are essential for accurate billing and reimbursement from medical insurance providers as well as other payer institutions.

When did HIPPA make it mandatory to have an ICD 10 code?

Compounding this, in 2003 HIPPA made it mandatory to have an ICD code included for any electronic transaction that is being used for billing, reimbursement, or reporting. This essentially means that to bill an insurance provider or payer institution you need to have a CPT code included in the documentation that clearly explains the treatment or service you provided to the patient as well as an ICD 10 code that clearly outlines the diagnosis for the patient that leads to the treatment or service rendered.

What are the ICD-10 codes for mental health?

All ICD-10 codes start with a single letter, followed by three or more numbers. The most commonly used ICD-10 codes for mental health disorders are clustered as F codes. F codes are further broken up into the following categories: 1 F00–F09: codes for organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders 2 F10–F19: codes for mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance abuse 3 F20–F29: codes for schizophrenia, schizotypal, and delusional disorders 4 F30–F39: codes for mood disorders, depression, and bipolar disorders 5 F40–F49: codes for neurotic, anxiety, stress-related, and somatoform disorders 6 F50–F59: codes for behavioral syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors 7 F60–F69: codes for disorders of adult personality and behaviors 8 F70–F79: codes for intellectual disabilities 9 F80–F89: codes for pervasive and specific developmental disorders 10 F90–F98: codes for behavioral and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence 11 F99: Unspecified mental disorder 12 G codes for mental health: codes for disease of the nervous system 13 Z codes for mental health: codes for factors influencing health status and contact with health services (includes the 2018 No Diagnosis or Condition code)

What is the 10th revision of the ICD-10?

The International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) is the standardized code set adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as mandated by the HIPAA Administrative Simplification guidelines to simplify the reporting of diagnoses and streamline communication between healthcare entities.

What is the F99 code?

F90–F98: codes for behavioral and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence. F99: Unspecified mental disorder. G codes for mental health: codes for disease of the nervous system.

What is the ICD-10 code?

Developed by the World Health Organization, ICD-10 includes thousands of diagnosis codes and their corresponding descriptions for all clinical disciplines, allowing providers, insurance payers, and government agencies who use the code set to uniformly report diseases and conditions for tracking and reimbursement.

Is DSM 5 related to ICD-10?

Because DSM-5 and ICD-10 aren't strictly related, there may occasionally be disconnect between diagnoses in the two sets. However, one goal of a recent revision to DSM-5 was to better align diagnostic criteria and coding with the ICD-10.

What is the ICd 10 code for metabolic diseases?

In ICD-10, diagnostic codes that start with the letter “E” cover “Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases”. Some of our patients are known to have a deficiency or condition for which the codes below apply.

Why do you put down more than one diagnostic code?

Tip: If more than one diagnostic code applies to a particular patient, it is wise to put all of them down to reduce the chances of the insurance not paying for the test. We are not limited to putting down only one diagnostic code when ordering the laboratory tests.

Why does insurance refuse to pay for lab tests?

But, for other laboratory tests, health insurances refuse to pay for the laboratory test because they don’t think that those laboratory tests are indicated for the mental disorder for which the diagnostic code was provided when the test was ordered. This can be a pain in the you-know-what, both for us ...

What is the Z00.00 code?

Z00.00 General adult medical examination without abnormal findings. This is a billable diagnosis code used when the person is getting health checked even without a specific complaint ( Reference ). This code can be used when screening for vitamin D deficiency. The problem is that the insurance companies consider screening for vitamin D deficiency ONLY in certain circumstances.

What is Z79.899?

Z79.899 Other long-term (current) drug therapy. We can use this code if doing lab tests that should be done because the person is on a particular medication, e.g., TSH and Basic Metabolic Panel in a patient who is on lithium.

Does DSM 5 have a multiaxial diagnosis?

2. Also, since DSM-5 got rid of multiaxial diagnosis, by listing “non-psychiatric” diagnostic codes in the medical record, we can highlight these other conditions and provide a more holistic picture of the patient.

Does insurance pay for testosterone test?

Here’s another example: If a patient has sexual dysfunction and we want to check serum testosterone, if we use the code E29.1 (Testicular hypofunction), the insurance will probably pay for the test because the diagnosis code indicates that the patient HAS the deficiency, not that the test is being done to see IF the person has the deficiency. While this approach works in terms of getting the lab test paid for, strictly speaking, this is not the right thing to do. Instead, we should put a diagnostic code indicating that we are screening for possible health problems that may be present.

What is the ICd 10 code for mental disorders?

ICD 10 Codes F01-F09 is the category that will be used to specify Mental Disorders caused by any known physiological condition, in between the code will have subcategories specifying specific conditions attributed to physiological factors.

What is the ICd 10 code for anxiety?

F40-F49 ICD-10 codes will be used to specify mental disorders involving anxiety, dissociative stress related Somatoform and other forms of Nonpsychotic Mental disorders.

Why use ICD-10 and DSM-V?

ICD10 and DSM-V Codes for Mental Health Disorders. Medical practitioners will be forced to use both ICD-10 codes with DSM-V codes while carrying out any coding of any mental disorder. The reason why mental health professionals can use the DSM-IV for diagnosis is because the DSM derives its code numbers from the ICD.

What is the new ICd 10?

With the new ICD-10 mental coding system, there have been some revisions on the classification of mental conditions with more granularity and greater detail. ICD-10 codes for mental health will be specific and standardized for specific conditions. ICD-10 codes for mental health will incorporate more categories subcategories and codes.

Does DSM IV code reflect ICD-10?

Currently, the DSM-IV code numbers reflect the ICD-9-CM codes. However, the DSM-5 codes will have to reflect those from the ICD-10-CM because use of the ICD-10-CM became mandatory for all health professionals in October 2014.

Why is it important to understand mental health billing codes?

Understanding mental health billing codes will help you optimize your billing so you can focus on what matters most: providing quality care to your clients.

Why is billing so intimidating?

Billing is intimidating for many therapists due to the complexity of coding. CPT, ICD-10, DSM-5. . . not only are there multiple sets of codes, but there are also detailed rules around which codes should be used for what services. Mental health billing codes can be overwhelming.

What is the ICd 10 code for a psychiatric exam?

The Z codes cover situations where the client doesn’t have a specific disorder, such as Z91.4 (personal history of psychological trauma) and Z04.6 (encounter for general psychiatric examination, requested by authority).

Why are reimbursement rates so difficult to find?

But the main reason it’s difficult to uncover reimbursement rates is that insurance companies don’t publish their rates. This isn’t because they’re trying to be secretive, however. Rates are based on a variety of factors, including the therapist’s office location, the provider’s license, education level, and specialization area. So the reimbursements you receive may be different from a therapist with a similar education level and specialization area who is located in another city. Your reimbursement rate is unique to you. When you’re accepted into a payer’s network, you’ll negotiate your reimbursement rates. And you can renegotiate them every year.

Where is the CPT code 90785?

The procedural codes for mental health (codes 90785-90899) are found in the Psychiatry section of the CPT code set. Some of these codes cover services that must be provided by medical professionals, such as psychiatrists, and others cover services that can be delivered by clinical psychologists, licensed professional counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, and licensed clinical social workers.

What is a 99404?

99404 – Preventive medicine counseling and/or risk factor reduction intervention (s) provided to an individual (separate procedure)

Why is it important to avoid coding mistakes?

First, you want to be sure that you’re being accurately reimbursed for all the services that you’re providing, not leaving money on the table.

Why Are There Still Two Sets of Codes?

The DSM was designed to help mental health professionals identify very specific disorders so that they could best communicate with other professionals and understand how to treat their patients most effectively. The ICD was designed to provide a comprehensive reference point for classifying diseases and sharing knowledge amongst professionals worldwide, particularly in the cases of epidemics and pandemics. Insurers picked up the use of the ICD as a simple way to reference diagnoses.

What is the DSM-5?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is well-known to mental health therapists and has its own set of codes. Healthcare professionals refer to this handbook, published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders as it provides a comprehensive list of diagnostic criteria for each recognized mental disorder. The current version is DSM-5. This version of the DSM made a significant effort to align with the ICD-10 codes, but because DSM-5 and ICD-10 aren’t strictly related, there are still occasional disconnects between the diagnoses in the two sets.

What are the codes for mental health?

The codes that are applicable to mental health fall under three main categories. The G codes all describe diseases of the nervous system. The Z codes refer to situations where the client doesn’t have a specific disorder but services are required, such as codes Z91.4 (personal history of psychological trauma) and Z04.6 (encounter for general psychiatric examination, requested by authority).

Will the DSM be replaced with the ICD?

At some point, it’s possible that the DSM codes may be eliminated and replaced with the ICD codes. But for now, therapists will need to use the DSM to diagnose and the ICD to identify the correct code associated with the diagnosis for billing purposes.

image