Preterm Labor = Preterm Labor…Or Does It?

Scenario:

Cathie Wilde, RHIA, CCS, Vice President of Coding Services Cathie Wilde, RHIA, CCS, Vice President of Coding Services

A twenty-five year old woman who is 34 weeks pregnant is admitted for mild pre-eclampsia. Treatment for pre-eclampsia is successful but during course of the admission the patient develops other pregnancy complications including thrombocytopenia, oligohydramnios and painful diastasis recti. Determination is made that for the safety of the patient and the baby, delivery must take place. The patient is induced with Cervidil and the baby is delivered at 35 weeks. The physician lists preterm labor as one of the discharge diagnoses.

Here are my thoughts…

Since Mom delivered at 35 weeks, is it appropriate to code 644.21, Early onset of delivery, delivered with or without mention of antepartum condition?

According to Coding Clinic 3rd Quarter 2011, p. 3 it would not be appropriate to assign 644.21 as an additional code because the labor was induced. The coding advice was further clarified and confirmed with the recent 2nd Quarter 2013 Coding Clinic, p. 27 that pre-term labor code 644.2x is to be used only to describe spontaneous early labor.

What are your thoughts?

Subscribe to our MRA Newsletter

Bringing peace of mind to healthcare since 1986

Share this post with your friends

You may be interested in...

AHIMA Approved

This program has been approved for continuing education unit(s) (CEUs) for use in fulfilling the continuing education requirements of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Granting of Approved CEUs from AHIMA does not constitute endorsement of the program content or its program provider.