by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(Feb. 5, 2008) A years-long effort to convince government agencies to provide medical classification codes for natural family planning has resulted in the establishment of two new codes.
The proposal for codes was initiated by the American Academy of Fertility Care Professionals (AAFCP) who petitioned the National Center for Health Statistics to change the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Disease codes to more accurately reflect the services provided by natural family planning professionals and to obtain third party
reimbursement for services.
These codes, which are assigned to diseases, injuries, counseling and other healthcare services not only enable the collection of a variety of health statistics, they are also used by the U.S. government, insurance companies, clinics and providers to code for medical diagnoses or services received.
The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) now includes two new codes for natural family planning:
V25.04: Counseling and instruction in natural family planning to avoid pregnancy.
V26.41: Procreative counseling and advice using natural family planning.
Diane Daly, a member of the AAFCP and director of the Office of Natural Family Planning for the St. Louis Archdiocese, headed the committee that has been working since 2004 on acquiring the codes.
“We’re excited because this is the first time in history that codes have recognized (natural family planning) as a legitimate service that can be reimbursed on its own,” she said in an interview with the St. Louis Review, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
These codes will also open the door for Catholic dioceses around the country to cover natural family planning in their insurance plans for diocesan employees. Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the bishop’s Committee for Pro-Life Activities has already sent a letter to American bishops asking them to consider coverage of natural family planning in their diocesan health insurance policies in light of the new codes.
“The publishing of the ICD-9-CM codes for natural family planning means that health insurance companies can easily cover education classes in the methods of natural family planning,” he wrote.
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