Forum - Questions & Answers

Aug 26th, 2011 - billinglady 9 

swallowed a penny

A child was brought to our office a week or so ago. It was thought that she may have swallowed a penny. After xrays were taken, it was determined that there was no penny. Does anybody know which ICD9 code to use for this? I sent the claim with V65.5 person w/feared complaint. That was denied by insurance. Do I use the code for swallowing a foreign body even though it was discovered that there wasn't actually a foreign body during the visit? Thanks for your help.

Aug 26th, 2011 - youngblood 278 

re: swallowed a penny

What symptoms did the child display to make the parent think she swallowed a penney? If nothing viable is documented, you might need to appeal with a letter of explanation.

Aug 29th, 2011 - billinglady 9 

re: swallowed a penny

Thanks for your response.
The note says that "the day care mother believes she swallowed a penny. She states that she choked a little bit initially but since the incident she's been acting fine with no difficulty breathing". She is in no distress and is acting otherwise very normal.

Aug 30th, 2011 - youngblood 278 

re: swallowed a penny

There is no support for coding a foreign body not found to be present. And, it sounds like the child's symptoms normalized by the time she got to (you). Perhaps, you could try V72.5 (radiological exam, NEC), but that is alsorather vague.

Aug 31st, 2011 -

re: swallowed a penny

I would code choking 784.99. There was a complaint. It is wrong to say that because the kid feels fine now that you cannot code it. I do it all the time with chest pain, abdominal pain, headache, blood in stool.



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