ICD 10 code for dizziness

Touseef Riaz

August 18, 2021

icd 10 code for dizziness

Dizziness and giddiness are among the most vestibular symptoms that have come to be associated with social, cognitive, and physical functions in adults. According to a report, almost half of the US adults population aged 65 years and above experience dizziness and vertigo and seek medical evaluation.

Dizziness and Giddiness ICD 10

The corresponding code for dizziness ICD-10 is R42 which is a billable code used for healthcare diagnosis and reimbursement purposes.

Previously, the ICD-9 code for dizziness and giddiness was 780.4. In the ICD-10 code set, dizziness is characterized by a ‘sensation as if the external surroundings are revolving around the patient or if the patients themselves are revolving in space’.

Below is the list of the top 10 ICD-10 codes which are associated with dizziness that is recommended to be used for documentation and reimbursement purposes:

Cervical ICD-10

M53.0 – Cervicocranial Syndrome

M50.31 – Other cervical disc degeneration – high cervical region

M54.2 – Cervicalgia

Dizziness ICD-10

R42 – Dizziness and giddiness

H81.10 – Benign paroxysmal vertigo – unspecified ear

H81.11 – Benign paroxysmal vertigo – right ear

H81.12 – Benign paroxysmal vertigo – left ear

H81.13 – Benign paroxysmal vertigo -bilateral

Headache and Dizziness ICD-10

R51 – Headache

G44.219 – Episodic tension-type headache

What is the ICD-10 Code for Cervicogenic Dizziness?

When it comes to Cervicogenic dizziness or Cervicogenic vertigo, there is not a specific ICD-10 code that maps the condition, putting the healthcare physician in a bind if they diagnose a patient with either of these conditions as they have to accurately document the correct code for administrative and insurance purposes.

In this case, the ICD-10 code is categorized around separate conditions that actually lead to the diagnosis of Cervicogenic dizziness or vertigo and applies the different sub-diagnoses for both conditions.

Dizziness: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Given the sheer number of adults that are affected by this condition, most of the affected people do not get the proper and prompt medical diagnoses that are needed to drive clinical management. For that, it is imperative to follow the ICD-10 dizziness guidelines and to implement and train those guidelines in your practice. Outsourcing these processes to a trustworthy medical company like Control Billing can help you stay updated with the current billing and coding rules, ensure the payment process is smooth and everything is properly documented for use as administrative data.

What is Dizziness?

Dizziness is a broad term that encompasses a range of sensations which include feeling faint, weak, unsteady, or woozy. It is characterized by a false sense that your surroundings are spinning or in a constant state of movement.

Being one of the more common reasons for which adults visit their doctors, dizziness or vertigo has a knack of affecting one’s daily life. It may not be a life-threatening condition but can stop you from functioning to your full potential in everyday activities.

Common symptoms for dizziness include

·         A sense of spinning or motion of surroundings, also known as vertigo.

·         Feeling faint or lightheaded.

·     Loss of balance and unsteadiness

The symptoms may be triggered or get worse when you stand up, walk or even move your head. The dizziness when coupled with nausea can make things even worse, and force you to sit or lay down. The episode may last seconds or days and may recur.

Causes

One of the reasons that dizziness is so often misdiagnosed is because there can be various causes behind it. In order to properly treat the issue, it is adamant that the cause be identified first.  An underlying health condition can be the culprit behind the bouts of giddiness that you experience, and only a physician can diagnose that after running different tests.

The way dizziness is triggered and makes you feel also provides possible clues and can help your physician pinpoint the cause. Below are some of the major causes that are found to cause dizziness:

Inner ear problems

The sense of balance is determined by the combined input from your eyes, sensory nerves, and the inner ear. The inner ear houses sensors that regulate the back and forth motion as well as helping detect gravity. When the inner ear malfunctions due to a disorder, the brain is unable to process the signals sent from the inner ear consistently, resulting in vertigo and dizziness.

Migraine

People who experience migraines commonly report episodes of dizziness and vertigo even when they are not having a severe headache. These episodes can last many hours and are associated with noise and light.

Poor blood circulation

Conditions such as cardiomyopathy, heart attack, heart arrhythmia, and transient ischemic attack could cause dizziness. And a decrease in blood volume may cause inadequate blood flow to your brain or inner ear.

Neurological conditions

Some neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, can lead to progressive loss of balance.

Low blood sugar

Dizziness due to low blood sugar levels usually occurs in people with diabetes who use insulin. The episode of dizziness is accompanied by anxiety and sweating.

Dehydration

You may feel dizzy if you are active in hot weather or your fluid intake is not enough which can cause hypothermia or dehydration.

General ICD 10 Information

ICD-10 (short for International Classification of Diseases, tenth edition) is a clinical documentation and cataloging system owned by the World Health organization which consists of thousands of codes, where each code represents critical information about the different diseases, findings, causes of injuries, symptoms, possible treatments, and epidemiology, playing a vital role in enabling advancements in clinical treatment and medication.

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it is required by all healthcare providers and physicians to apply the ICD-10 codes in their practices, replacing the previous ICD-9 code set.

ICD serves as a foundation to identify clinical trends and statistics globally. Diseases, injuries, disorders, and all health conditions are listed comprehensively and organized into standard groupings allowing health care providers from around the world to compare and share information using the ICD codes

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