Staying tuned to specialty coding libraries will help you stand in good stead as far as cirrhosis diagnosis options and other coding know how is concerned.
Here's a scenario: According to medical records, your gastroenterologist treats a patient for "cirrhosis likely secondary to alcohol dependency complicated by varices with GI bleeding." In this situation, what cirrhosis diagnosis code should you report?
Well, none between alchoholic cirrhosis (571.2) and 571.5 could describe the condition more properly. Depending on what (if any) procedures the doctor carried out during this encounter, you should code it with gastrointestinal bleeding as the diagnosis (578.9, Hemorrhage of gastrointestinal tract, unspecified).
You should think about 456.20 as an option in the name of specificity. According to a note in the description of this code in the ICD-9 manual, you must code the underlying cause (either cirrhosis of the liver or portal hypertension) as the primary diagnosis, which forces you to select between alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
Reminder: Don't code for suspect, rule-out or probable diagnoses. In this instance, the gastroenterologist isn't sure this is alcoholic cirrhosis; as such you shouldn't code it as such. This practice protects the patient as well. If it turns out that it's not alcoholic cirrhosis, you have incorrectly labeled the patient as alcohol-dependent with his insurance company.
For further details on this and for other specialty-specific articles to assist your coding, sign up for a one-stop medical coding guide like Supercoder. Such a site comes with a Specialty Coding Library to assist you in your everyday coding. The library will help you get every dollar your practice deserves. A lot of people rely on this specialty library which offers 12 monthly issues of the Specialty Coding Alert of your choice, reader questions answered by experts, CPC moderated forums, 14 Specialty-specific SuperCoder Survival Guides, and you just name it.
Whether it's a powerful code reference tool, a real-time claims auditor to help you reduce denials or step-by-step guidance from CPC certified experts, we've got you covered. Some of our products like Physician Coding Bundle, Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Authority, etc provide you with just the ammunition you need to get instant success.
Here's a scenario: According to medical records, your gastroenterologist treats a patient for "cirrhosis likely secondary to alcohol dependency complicated by varices with GI bleeding." In this situation, what cirrhosis diagnosis code should you report?
Well, none between alchoholic cirrhosis (571.2) and 571.5 could describe the condition more properly. Depending on what (if any) procedures the doctor carried out during this encounter, you should code it with gastrointestinal bleeding as the diagnosis (578.9, Hemorrhage of gastrointestinal tract, unspecified).
You should think about 456.20 as an option in the name of specificity. According to a note in the description of this code in the ICD-9 manual, you must code the underlying cause (either cirrhosis of the liver or portal hypertension) as the primary diagnosis, which forces you to select between alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
Reminder: Don't code for suspect, rule-out or probable diagnoses. In this instance, the gastroenterologist isn't sure this is alcoholic cirrhosis; as such you shouldn't code it as such. This practice protects the patient as well. If it turns out that it's not alcoholic cirrhosis, you have incorrectly labeled the patient as alcohol-dependent with his insurance company.
For further details on this and for other specialty-specific articles to assist your coding, sign up for a one-stop medical coding guide like Supercoder. Such a site comes with a Specialty Coding Library to assist you in your everyday coding. The library will help you get every dollar your practice deserves. A lot of people rely on this specialty library which offers 12 monthly issues of the Specialty Coding Alert of your choice, reader questions answered by experts, CPC moderated forums, 14 Specialty-specific SuperCoder Survival Guides, and you just name it.
Whether it's a powerful code reference tool, a real-time claims auditor to help you reduce denials or step-by-step guidance from CPC certified experts, we've got you covered. Some of our products like Physician Coding Bundle, Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Authority, etc provide you with just the ammunition you need to get instant success.
interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you
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