Many coders can quickly quote the code for diabetes mellitus in ICD-9-CM (code 250.00) when the physician only documents diabetes mellitus. But what will coders need in the documentation for diabetes mellitus in ICD-10-CM? Dissect the differences in coding for diabetes mellitus in ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM.
ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM stroke and coma codes reveal many similarities and some important differences. Alice Zentner, RHIA, and James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP, explain the changes and what coders need to know to prepare for ICD-10-CM stroke and coma coding.
Coders face many challenges when coding for services provided by teaching physicians, interns, residents, and students. Medicare has specific rules and regulations surrounding what services it will pay for when an intern, a resident, or a student provides services. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, COBGC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, details what coders need to see in the documentation before reporting these services.
Physicians can perform three different types of wound debridement and coders will find different codes for each type. Gloria Miller, CPC, CPMA, and John David Rosdeutscher, MD, discuss the different types of debridement, as well as coding and documentation requirements.
Coding for physician services doesn’t always match coding for facility services, which can cause problems for coders who code records for both. ED E/M is one area where different rules come into play.
Physicians often use the acronyms IBS (which should indicate irritable bowel syndrome) and IBD (which should indicate inflammatory bowel disease) interchangeably even though they represent completely different conditions with different treatment and prognoses.
The digestion process is complex and there’s a lot that can go wrong. Thankfully, Robert S. Gold, MD, unravels the topic of mechanical and paralytic ileuses in this week’s article.
Coders can run into two types of edits that may require them to append modifier -59 (distinct procedural service) to override: National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) edits and medically unlikely edits (MUE). Sarah L. Goodman, MBA, CHCAF, CPC-H, CCP, FCS, and Susan E. Garrison, CHCA, CHCAS, CCS-P, CHC, PCS, FCS, CPAR, CPC, CPC-H, explain the differences between the edits and how to correctly determine when to override the edit.
To correctly assign codes for any surgical procedure, coders need to have an operative (OP) report. But simply having the OP report isn't enough. Coders also must be able to read the report and pick out the important information.
