Many IECMH providers use DC:0–5 for clinical assessment of infants and young children and for treatment planning. But in order to receive compensation for their services, they are forced to use codes for older individuals. DC:0–5 Crosswalks have been developed to aid providers in this conversion.
Because many IECMH providers use DC:0-5 for clinical assessment of infants and young children and for treatment planning, they are forced to do a conversion between DC:0-5 diagnoses and diagnostic codes appropriate for older individuals in order to receive compensation for their services. Crosswalks have been developed to aid providers in this conversion. Providers should be able to assess, diagnose, and bill directly for IECMH services for very young children. Crosswalks are a stopgap solution to the real policy issue: many insurers do not recognize early childhood-specific diagnoses from DC:0–5, making reimbursement for IECMH services an ongoing challenge.
