Wednesday, July 27, 2011

New ICD-10 Coding Conventions You Should Be Aware Of

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind as you make the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10.

Excludes may include two different things
When you switch to ICD-10, one key change you'll see is 'excludes' will be of two types. Initially, this might seem like more burden to your coding work; however, this will only ease your work by getting rid of one of ICD-9's mistakes.

'X' or "X?" in your code listing? Well, this is here to help you
When you get hold of your ICD-10 manual, you will notice certain codes that include an 'X' or an "X?" in them – however don't assume that it's a printing error as it is there to assist you.

Whether left side or right side was treated while dealing with some anatomic areas
Worried about your ICD-10 manual ( Source "http://www.supercoder.com/icd-10/") being thicker than the ICD-9 book? Don't be. Because much of the book's additions are owing to the fact that many codes will require you to denote whether the left side or right side was treated while dealing with certain anatomic areas – it could be eyes, ears, hands, hands, feet, ovaries, and the like.

Right now, when you report acute atopic conjunctivitis, you use 372.05. In some rare examples, when insurers want to figure out which eye was affected, you add the RT or LT modifiers. When you make the transition, you will not only signify the specific type of conjunctivitis by reporting the most spot on diagnosis code, but will also have to specify which eye was affected. As such, depending on the eye infected, an acute atopic conjunctivitis diagnosis could track to one of these codes: H10.10, H10.11, H10.12 and H10.13.

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