A Comprehensive Diagnostic Profile - The Wave of the Future

  • Good coding and documentation clearly depicts the level of disease severity, co-morbidities and underlying diseases
  • According to 2008 ICD9 outpatient coding guidelines "Code all documented conditions that coexist at the same time of the visit and require or affect patient care treatment or management"
3 Common Errors: Documentation & Coding in Physician Office
  1. Documenting and coding uncomplicated diabetes (250.00) when the patient actually has complicated diabetes
    • If urine test indicates protein due to diabetic nephropathy, nephropathy should be documented as:
      • 250.40 Diabetes with nephropathy and
      • 583.81 Nephropathy due to diabetes
  2. Documenting and coding cancer when the correct documentation should br "history of cancer"
    • If cancer was removed, the patient does not have metastases and is not on active treatment, the coding should be history of (breast, prostate or colon) cancer. V10.x
  3. Diagnosis of stroke or CVA (434.91 or 436) should only be used in a hospital setting
    • If the patient is seen after hospitalization:
      • Document the residual effects if present (i.e.: aphasia, hemiplegia), otherwise document and code status post CVA with no residual. V12.54

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Last updated: 1/13/2011 12:00:00 AM
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