R68.13Apparent life threatening event in infant (ALTE)

R68.13 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for Apparent life threatening event in infant (ALTE). It belongs to category R68 (other general symptoms and signs), block R50-R69 (general symptoms and signs) and chapter 18 (symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within R68.1 (nonspecific symptoms peculiar to infancy), R68.13 is specifically for Apparent life threatening event in infant (ALTE). Related codes cover excessive crying of infant (baby) (R68.11), Fussy infant (baby) (R68.12) and other nonspecific symptoms peculiar to infancy (R68.19).

Code first: confirmed diagnosis, if known.

Use an additional code(s) for associated signs and symptoms if no confirmed diagnosis established, or if signs and symptoms are not associated routinely with confirmed diagnosis, or provide additional information for cause of ALTE.

It is not a CC or MCC, so as a secondary diagnosis it doesn't change the MS-DRG severity level.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 951 (Other Factors Influencing Health Status, relative weight 0.5577), in MDC 23 (Factors Influencing Health Status and Other Contacts with Health Services), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

The Medicare Code Editor expects this diagnosis only for patients age 0 through 17; other ages trigger an age-conflict edit.

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 799.82 (Apparent life threatening event in infant).