F93.0
BillableSeparation anxiety disorder of childhood
HCC Category Mapping
RxHCCHCC 133 — Personality Disorders, Anxiety, and Other Specified Mental Disorders
0.000What This Code Means
Excessive anxiety and distress in children when separated from parents or primary caregivers, often resulting in school refusal or reluctance to be away from home.
Coding Tips
- •Ensure documentation specifies this is a childhood disorder and includes onset before age 18
- •Differentiate from normal separation anxiety by documenting the excessive nature and functional impairment caused
Clinical Significance
Separation anxiety disorder of childhood is characterized by developmentally inappropriate and excessive anxiety concerning separation from those to whom the child is attached. It goes beyond normal developmental separation anxiety and causes significant distress and functional impairment. It is the most common anxiety disorder in children under 12 and may persist into adulthood, predisposing to other anxiety disorders and depression.
Documentation Requirements
- ✓Provider documentation of separation anxiety disorder diagnosis in a child
- ✓Evidence of developmentally inappropriate and excessive distress about separation from major attachment figures
- ✓Duration of at least 4 weeks in children and adolescents
- ✓Documentation of functional impairment (school refusal, inability to sleep alone, reluctance to attend activities)
- ✓Assessment distinguishing from normal developmental separation anxiety and from other anxiety disorders
Excludes 2 — Not included here, may code separately
Commonly Confused Codes
F40.10 — Social phobia; social phobia involves fear of social situations, not separation from attachment figuresF41.1 — Generalized anxiety disorder; GAD involves worry about many topics, not specifically separationF93.8 — Other childhood emotional disorders; for childhood emotional disorders not fitting specific categoriesF94.x — Disorders of social functioning with onset specific to childhood; attachment disorders differ from separation anxiety
Code Hierarchy
└F93Emotional disorders with onset specific to childhood└F93.0Separation anxiety disorder of childhood
└F93.0Separation anxiety disorder of childhood