Hi,
We use 96127 brief emotional/behavioral assessment code often and an insurance carrier is asking that when we use this for depression to use the screening for depression ICD-10 code (Z code). My question is, what if the patient already has the diagnosis of depression. I don’t feel that we would use the Z code for screening when this patient already has the diagnosis which would be an F code. Is it appropriate to use the F code with the Z code? There is no excludes notes but it doesn’t feel right to me. Hoping someone has some insight in to this.
We use 96127 brief emotional/behavioral assessment code often and an insurance carrier is asking that when we use this for depression to use the screening for depression ICD-10 code (Z code). My question is, what if the patient already has the diagnosis of depression. I don’t feel that we would use the Z code for screening when this patient already has the diagnosis which would be an F code. Is it appropriate to use the F code with the Z code? There is no excludes notes but it doesn’t feel right to me. Hoping someone has some insight in to this.
Thanks