ICD-9-CM: Shifts in Respiratory Conditions

Don't report 488.12 except if the physician verifies H1N1 influenza. Learn what code should fit your claim.

In case you're intimidated by the thought of going through each and every diagnostic coding change that went into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, you should not worry any more. Grab the insider's information with this rundown on some of the new respiratory system diagnosis codes that have an effect on you.

Quick reference: You should always check equally the diagnoses index as well as the tabular list in order to select the correct codes to include on your encounter form.

Keep Up With Fresh Novel Influenza Code Amendments

With this condition repeatedly developing new forms, ICD-9-CM has made changes to new influenza codes for three years in a row. Changes to the novel influenza codes were suggested by the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIR).

A novel subcategory 488.8 (Influenza due to novel influenza A) as well as related codes have been made to report Novel influenza A. They are:

488.81 -- Influenza owing to identified novel influenza A virus including pneumonia

488.82 -- Influenza owing to identified novel influenza A virus including other respiratory manifestations

488.89 -- Influenza owing to identified novel influenza A virus including other manifestations.

Definition: Novel influenza cover all human infections including influenza A viruses that are either new or unlike presently circulating human influenza viruses. These involve viruses subtyped as nonhuman in starting point, and those that cannot be subtyped by means of standard laboratory methods.

Providers frequently refer to the 2009 pandemic influenza as 2009 H1N1 influenza rather than novel H1N1 influenza, as a result ICD-9-CM has revised the following listed codes, with preceding references to "novel" in their descriptors to modify to "2009." The codes involve:

488.11 – i.e Influenza owing to identified 2009 H1N1 influenza virus including pneumonia

488.12 -- i.e Influenza owing to identified 2009 H1N1 influenza virus including other respiratory manifestations

488.19 -- i.e Influenza owing to identified 2009 H1N1 influenza virus including other manifestations.

Turn To 512.2 While Reporting Postoperative Air Leaks

ICD-9-CM has implemented revisions and novel codes made to Category 512 to distinguish air leaks from pneumothorax. This category is at the present labeled pneumothorax and air leaks.

New code: You are now allowed to report postoperative air leaks by means of 512.2 (Postoperative air leak). You before reported this particular situation using code 512.1 (Iatrogenic pneumothorax), which was confusing as a patient might go through a postoperative air leak with no significant air in the pleural space leading to pneumothorax. ICD-9-CM forbids reporting 512.1 or 512.2 except the physician documentation specially denotes postoperative or because of a procedure.