Study Results from Indiana University in the Area of Opioids Reported (Trends In Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome and Opioid Exposure Diagnoses Among Infants With Private Health Insurance, 2016-2021: Introduction of the P04.14 Icd-10-cm Code): Opioids

2023 JUN 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Data detailed on Opioids have been presented. According to news originating from Bloomington, Indiana, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The opioid epidemic has led to a surge in diagnoses of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). Many states track the incidence of NOWS by using the P96.1 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) code for ‘neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction.’ In October 2018, an ICD-10-CM code for neonatal opioid exposure (P04.14) was introduced.”

Funders for this research include NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Indiana Clinical Translational Sciences Institute, Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Indiana University Grand Challenge program, Responding to the Addictions Crisis.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Indiana University, “This code can be used when an infant is exposed to opioids in utero but does not have clinically significant withdrawal symptoms. We analyzed the effect of the P04.14 code on the incidence rate of NOWS (P96.1) and ‘other’ neonatal drug exposure diagnoses (P04.49). We used private health insurance data collected for infants in the United States from the first quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2021 to describe incidence rates for each code over time and examine absolute and percentage changes before and after the introduction of code P04.14. The exclusive use of code P96.1 declined from an incidence rate per 1000 births of 1.08 in 2016-2018 to 0.70 in 2019-2021, a -35.7% (95% CI, -47.6% to -23.8%) reduction. Use of code P04.49 only declined from an incidence rate of 2.34 in 2016-2018 to 1.64 in 2019-2021, a -30.0% (95% CI, -36.4% to -23.7%) reduction. Use of multiple codes during the course of treatment increased from an average incidence per 1000 births of 0.56 in 2016-2018 to 0.79 in 2019-2021, a 45.5% (95% CI, 24.8%-66.1%) increase. The introduction of ICD-10-CM code P04.14 altered the use of other neonatal opioid exposure codes.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The use of multiple codes increased, indicating that some ambiguity may exist about which ICD-10-CM code is most appropriate for a given set of symptoms.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Trends In Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome and Opioid Exposure Diagnoses Among Infants With Private Health Insurance, 2016-2021: Introduction of the P04.14 Icd-10-cm Code. Public Health Reports, 2023. Public Health Reports can be contacted at: Sage Publications Inc, 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Angela G. Campbell, Indiana University, School of Public Health, Dept. of Applied Health Sciences, Bloomington, IN, United States. Additional authors for this research include Pengyue Zhang, Marc B. Rosenman, Sarah E. Wiehe and Emily Scott.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549231162375. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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