Billable Medical Code for Autistic Disorder
Diagnosis Code for Reimbursement Claim: ICD-9-CM 299.0
Code will be replaced by October 2015 and relabeled as ICD-10-CM 299.0.
This excludes disintegrative psychosis (299.1), Heller’s syndrome (299.1), and schizophrenic syndrome of childhood (299.9). This applies to childhood autism, infantile psychosis, and kanner’s syndrome.
Autism Definition and Symptoms
Autism is a disorder that impairs a child’s development and ability to communicate with others. Signs of autism include failure to respond to their name, playing alone, resisting cuddling and holding, speaks with abnormal rhythm, doesn’t express emotions, repeats words, delayed speech, repetitive movements, moves constantly, and resistant to change. Causes are thought to be genetic problems and environmental factors.