F50.25
BillableBulimia nervosa, in remission
HCC Category Mapping
V28HCC 153 — Personality Disorders and Dissociative Disorders
1.241RxHCCHCC 133 — Personality Disorders, Anxiety, and Other Specified Mental Disorders
0.000What This Code Means
A bulimia nervosa eating disorder that is currently in remission or recovery.
Coding Tips
- •Only use when provider explicitly documents remission or recovery status
- •Ensure the patient is not currently experiencing active binge-purge cycles
Clinical Significance
Bulimia nervosa involves recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate compensatory behaviors (self-induced vomiting, laxative/diuretic misuse, fasting, excessive exercise) in a patient at normal or above-normal weight. In remission indicates prior full criteria were met but the patient has sustained cessation of binge/purge behaviors. Unlike anorexia nervosa, patients with bulimia are not significantly underweight, which can make the condition less visually apparent.
Documentation Requirements
- ✓Recurrent episodes of binge eating (consuming objectively large amounts of food with sense of loss of control)
- ✓Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain (No current binge/purge episodes)
- ✓Binge eating and compensatory behaviors occur at least once per week for three months
- ✓Self-evaluation unduly influenced by body shape and weight
- ✓Disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa (patient is NOT significantly underweight)
Commonly Confused Codes
F50.02x (Anorexia nervosa, binge eating/purging type) — patient is significantly UNDERWEIGHT, unlike bulimiaF50.81x (Binge eating disorder) — binge eating WITHOUT compensatory purging behaviorsF50.9 (Eating disorder, unspecified) — use specific bulimia code when criteria are documentedF50.89 (Other specified eating disorder) — use for purging disorder (purging without binge eating) or subthreshold bulimiaE87.1 (Hypo-osmolality and hyponatremia) — complication code, not the eating disorder itself
Code Hierarchy
└F50Eating disorders└F50.2Bulimia nervosa└F50.25Bulimia nervosa, in remission
└F50.25Bulimia nervosa, in remission