Three warnings you need to watch out for when using E codes

E codes point to the external causes of injuries and poisonings as well as the adverse effects of drugs and substances.

If you report injuries or poisonings, then you certainly need to be familiar with E codes. But before you turn to these codes, make it a point to keep these three things in mind that will prevent your claim from getting tripped.

Do not lose the purpose of E codes E codes point to the external causes of injuries and poisonings as well as the adverse effects of drugs and substances. They are thought of as special ICD-9 codes which you can generally use to report accidents, injuries or diseases. You can report E codes with regular ICD 9 codes.

This is a no no: You shouldn't report E codes as your primary code as they only indicate the cause of injury/poisonings and not the resulting injury/condition. Like always, report E codes in addition to a numerical ICD-9 code that describes the injury itself. It might be needed to assign more than one E code in order to explain each cause fully.

Be specific about your E codes Increasing E code reporting can benefit auto insurance companies, disability insurers, health insurance plans, public payers, health care purchasers, employers, businesses, labor unions, schools and other entities interested in injury prevention and safety issues. However does it provide too much 'up-front'know how about the patient's behavior/lifestyle?

Take more risks while reporting certain E codes There are E codes for reporting surgical mishaps, including E876.6, E876.7.

Although you could bill these codes when the need arises, you would want to keep hoping you may never have to come face to face with these 'need'. These two just-in codes describe situations that are considered 'never' events, which means they represent surgical mistakes that should never happen.

For more information on E codes and other ICD 9 codes information, sign up for a one-stop medical coding (http://www.supercoder.com/) website.

We provide you simple, instant connection to official code descriptors & guidelines and other tools for 2010 CPT code, HCPCS lookup that help coders and billers to excel in the work they do every day.

ICD 9 codes, medical coding, E codes