F50.84
BillableRumination disorder in adults
HCC Category Mapping
RxHCCHCC 133 — Personality Disorders, Anxiety, and Other Specified Mental Disorders
0.000What This Code Means
Rumination disorder in adults is a condition where a person repeatedly regurgitates food that has already been swallowed, re-chews it, and either swallows it again or spits it out.
Coding Tips
- •Ensure the rumination is not secondary to another medical condition like GERD or gastroesophageal reflux; rule out organic causes first
- •This code applies to adults; rumination disorder in children uses a different code (F98.8)
Clinical Significance
Rumination disorder in adults involves the repeated regurgitation of food for at least one month, which may be re-chewed, re-swallowed, or spit out. This is not due to gastrointestinal disease or another eating disorder. In adults, it is often underdiagnosed and can cause significant complications including malnutrition, weight loss, dental erosion, and esophageal damage.
Documentation Requirements
- ✓Documentation of repeated regurgitation of food over at least one month
- ✓Evidence that regurgitation is not due to a gastrointestinal condition (GERD, pyloric stenosis, etc.)
- ✓Not occurring exclusively during anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or ARFID
- ✓Provider explicitly documenting rumination disorder diagnosis
- ✓Assessment of nutritional status and associated complications
Excludes 1 — Do NOT code together
- rumination disorder in infancy and childhood (F98.21)
Commonly Confused Codes
K21.0 (Gastroesophageal reflux disease with esophagitis) — organic reflux condition, must be ruled outF50.02x (Anorexia nervosa, binge eating/purging type) — purging involves vomiting, not rumination; different mechanismF50.2x (Bulimia nervosa) — self-induced vomiting is intentional purging, distinct from ruminationF98.21 (Rumination disorder of infancy) — use for infantile rumination, not adultsR11.10 (Vomiting, unspecified) — organic vomiting, not behavioral rumination
Code Hierarchy
└F50Eating disorders└F50.8Other eating disorders└F50.84Rumination disorder in adults
└F50.84Rumination disorder in adults