Why Z-Codes Matter For Provider Organizations

Over the past couple of months articles surrounding coding and the social determinants of health have been popping up in the news—see AMA & UnitedHealthcare Partner To Propose New ICD-10 Codes To Identify & Address Social Determinants Of Health, UnitedHealthcare Expands Initiative To Use Diagnostic Codes To Capture Social Determinants Of Health, and Standardizing Social Determinants Of Health Assessments. The social determinant of health codes, commonly referred to as “z-codes” are used on claims to indicate a complicating factor related to interpersonal relationships, housing, food insecurity, occupational hazards, etc.

For executives of provider organizations (and many others . . .