Per Coding Clinic Second Quarter 2022, the question was asked whether to assign the code Z20.822, Contact with and (suspected) exposure to COVID-19 on a healthy newborn record when the infant’s mother had been diagnosed with COVID-19 during her second trimester of pregnancy. Coding Clinic advised to not assign the code Z20.822 since the provider’s documentation did not indicate the infant had been affected by the mother’s COVID-19 infection, only received COVID-19 exposure, and the criteria for secondary diagnosis had not been met.
The Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting general perinatal rules (16.a.6.) state “All clinically significant conditions noted on routine newborn examination should be coded. A condition is clinically significant if it requires: clinical evaluation, or therapeutic treatment, or diagnostic procedures, or extended length of hospital stay, or increased nursing care and/or monitoring, or has implications for future health care needs.”
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