CASE STUDY - This patient is a 24-year-old male diagnosed with multiple personality disorder five years ago. He has been under my care since moving to this city three years ago. Today he attends a 30-minute psychoanalysis session. See tape #07211055 for complete session notes. What code or codes should be used?

CASE STUDY - This patient is a 24-year-old male diagnosed with multiple personality disorder five years ago. He has been under my care since moving to this city three years ago. Today he attends a 30-minute psychoanalysis session. See tape #07211055 for complete session notes. What code or codes should be used?

• A. F44.81, 90846
• B. F44.81, 90845
• C. F44.79, 90845
• D. F44.81, 90832

Answer: (B)

In billing you report both the diagnosis and the exact therapy performed. The diagnosis should reflect the patient’s current disorder, and the procedure code should describe the service delivered. The patient has a dissociative identity disorder (historically called multiple personality disorder). The correct ICD-10-CM code for this is F44.81. The session is described as a psychoanalysis session. In CPT, psychoanalysis is coded with 90845. This code is used for psychoanalytic therapy, regardless of a specific short duration, and is the appropriate code when the service performed is psychoanalysis rather than standard psychotherapy. Therefore, the correct pairing is F44.81 with 90845. Using a different diagnosis code would misstate the condition, and using a standard psychotherapy code (like 90832) would misclassify the modality of the therapy.

In billing you report both the diagnosis and the exact therapy performed. The diagnosis should reflect the patient’s current disorder, and the procedure code should describe the service delivered.

The patient has a dissociative identity disorder (historically called multiple personality disorder). The correct ICD-10-CM code for this is F44.81.

The session is described as a psychoanalysis session. In CPT, psychoanalysis is coded with 90845. This code is used for psychoanalytic therapy, regardless of a specific short duration, and is the appropriate code when the service performed is psychoanalysis rather than standard psychotherapy.

Therefore, the correct pairing is F44.81 with 90845. Using a different diagnosis code would misstate the condition, and using a standard psychotherapy code (like 90832) would misclassify the modality of the therapy.