F98.21

Billable

Rumination disorder of infancy and childhood

HCC Category Mapping

RxHCCHCC 133 — Personality Disorders, Anxiety, and Other Specified Mental Disorders

0.000

What This Code Means

A feeding disorder in infants and young children characterized by repeated regurgitation and rechewing of food that has already been swallowed, without nausea or gastrointestinal disease.

Coding Tips

•This diagnosis requires documentation that the behavior is not due to GERD, pyloric stenosis, or other medical conditions
•Typically diagnosed in children ages 3 months to 2 years; document the child's age and developmental context

Clinical Significance

Rumination disorder of infancy and childhood involves repeated regurgitation and re-chewing of food that is not attributable to gastrointestinal or other medical conditions. In infants, it can lead to failure to thrive, malnutrition, and death if untreated. In older children, it causes significant nutritional and dental complications. This behavioral feeding disorder requires multidisciplinary management including behavioral therapy and nutritional support.

Documentation Requirements

✓Provider documentation of rumination disorder diagnosis
✓Evidence of repeated regurgitation of food over at least one month
✓Documentation that the behavior is not due to a gastrointestinal condition (e.g., GERD, pyloric stenosis)
✓Documentation that the behavior does not occur exclusively during an eating disorder (anorexia nervosa, bulimia)
✓Nutritional assessment, growth parameters, and treatment plan including behavioral intervention

Excludes 1 — Do NOT code together

rumination disorder in adults (F50.84)

Commonly Confused Codes

K21.0 — GERD with esophagitis; GERD is a gastrointestinal medical condition, not a behavioral disorder F98.29 — Other feeding disorders of infancy and early childhood; use F98.21 specifically for rumination F50.x — Eating disorders; rumination occurring exclusively within anorexia or bulimia is coded to the eating disorder P92.x — Feeding problems of newborn; neonatal feeding difficulties are coded separately from rumination disorder

Code Hierarchy

└F98Other behavioral and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence └F98.2Other feeding disorders of infancy and childhood └F98.21Rumination disorder of infancy and childhood

└F98.21Rumination disorder of infancy and childhood