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primary behavioral health diagnosis code

prim_bh_diag_cd
behavioral·Updated Jul 4, 2026

Definition

ISO-11179 Definition

The principal ICD-10-CM diagnosis code reflecting the primary behavioral health or substance use condition being treated during an encounter, such as major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or substance use disorder. This field drives clinical grouping logic, level-of-care determination, and payer medical necessity review, and must be distinguished from secondary or comorbid diagnosis codes which provide additional clinical context but do not represent the chief reason for treatment.

Standard Abbreviation

prim_bh_diag_cd

Category

behavioral

Production DDL — FACT_BH_ENCOUNTER

FACT_BH_ENCOUNTER.sql
CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE FACT_BH_ENCOUNTER (
    bh_enctr_key    INTEGER        NOT NULL  -- surrogate key,
    enctr_id        VARCHAR(50)    NOT NULL  -- encounter identifier,
    mbr_id          VARCHAR(20)    NOT NULL  -- member identifier,
    prvdr_npi       VARCHAR(10)              -- rendering provider NPI,
    enctr_dt        DATE           NOT NULL  -- encounter date,
    svc_type_cd     VARCHAR(20)              -- service type code,
    diag_cd         VARCHAR(7)               -- primary diagnosis code,
    diag_cd_2       VARCHAR(7)               -- secondary diagnosis code,
    bh_cond_cd      VARCHAR(20)              -- behavioral health condition,
    lvl_of_care_cd  VARCHAR(20)              -- level of care code,
    session_cnt     INTEGER                  -- session count,
    auth_nbr        VARCHAR(30)              -- authorization number,
    fac_type_cd     VARCHAR(20)              -- facility type code,
    paid_amt        DECIMAL(12,2)            -- paid amount,
    rec_creat_dt    TIMESTAMP      NOT NULL  -- record created date
);

Standard Snowflake DDL for the canonical behavioral table. Convert to BigQuery or Databricks →

Why This Term Matters

Healthcare data terminology is foundational for any data engineer working in this industry. Precise understanding of standard terms enables accurate schema design, reduces downstream data quality issues, and ensures pipelines meet the regulatory and interoperability requirements imposed by HIPAA, HL7 FHIR, and CMS reporting frameworks. Without this foundation, even technically well-built pipelines produce data that fails validation when it reaches payers or regulators.

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