Thread by @WesElyMD

1/🧵 Billing for #LongCOVID💰

It Matters!

What does it mean that docs can now bill using ICD-10 code U09.9 “Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified”effective October 1, 2021?

Let me explain a tad bit why this is so key.

bit.ly/2ZLOHE5

2/ I fully believe in #LongCOVID, and patients must be validated as the experts of their own narrative. BUT, absence of a billing code sent a terrible message to clinicians & pts.

This legitimizes the #PublicHealth catastrophe & facilitates pts being HEARD & SEEN 👁.

3/ Docs “believe” better when they can charge for testing & get pts covered, too. This also allows databases to track & analyze epidemiology of #LongCOVID. That means research can be carried out to answer questions, improve care & prepare for future pandemics. Read an anecdote👇

https://twitter.com/honeybouboule/status/1443902222564315138

4/ There are other medical problems like #MECFS & #Delirium w a long history of being stifled by absence of billing codes. I’m breathing a sigh of relief that this ICD10 code is now live @CDCgov, #Medicare, and for private insurance plans.

One step at a time! #Believe

5/ How does it work? U09.0 - the new ICD-10 code - went live Oct 1, 2021. It’s for #LongCOVID or “Post-COVID Conditions.” We now code the primary condition 1st, eg, M35.81 for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, then put U09.9.

👇 See our long “EPIC” list of post-COVID Conditions

6/ People can be reinfected. What then? If a patient has a condition associated w previous COVID-19 infection & develops new active #COVID19, U09.9 may be assigned in conjunction w U07.1 COVID-19 to identify he/she also has a condition from previous COVID.

7/fin
Conclusion: we now have evidence from millions of patients that they are suffering way beyond acute #covid (U07.1). Into the downstream years they trod (U09.9). We can bill for it. #LongCOVID is legitimized.
 
But do we care enough? Do we SEE them? We must.
 
#Vaccinate