ICD-9-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting - Office of ...

1) A person who is not currently sick encounters the health
services for some specific reason, such as to act as an organ
donor, to receive prophylactic care, such as inoculations or
health screenings, or to receive counseling on health related
issues.
2) A person with a resolving disease or injury, or a chronic, longterm
condition requiring continuous care, encounters the health
care system for specific aftercare of that disease or injury (e.g.,
dialysis for renal disease; chemotherapy for malignancy; cast
change). A diagnosis/symptom code should be used whenever
a current, acute, diagnosis is being treated or a sign or
symptom is being studied.
3) Circumstances or problems influence a person’s health status
but are not in themselves a current illness or injury.
4) Newborns, to indicate birth status
b. V codes use in any healthcare setting
V codes are for use in any healthcare setting. V codes may be used as
either a first listed (principal diagnosis code in the inpatient setting) or
secondary code, depending on the circumstances of the encounter.
Certain V codes may only be used as first listed, others only as
secondary codes.
See Section I.C.18.e, V Code Table.
c. V Codes indicate a reason for an encounter
They are not procedure codes. A corresponding procedure code must
accompany a V code to describe the procedure performed.
d. Categories of V Codes
1) Contact/Exposure
Category V01 indicates contact with or exposure to
communicable diseases. These codes are for patients who do
not show any sign or symptom of a disease but have been
exposed to it by close personal contact with an infected
individual or are in an area where a disease is epidemic. These
codes may be used as a first listed code to explain an encounter
for testing, or, more commonly, as a secondary code to identify
a potential risk.
2) Inoculations and vaccinations
ICD-9-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting
Effective October 1, 2008
Page 66 of 119