Q: I’ve heard that queries differ between critical access and short-term acute care hospital settings. Is this true, and if so, where can I find more information?
Q: A patient presents with a sore throat, and the physician states “Sore throat; differential diagnoses include streptococcal sore throat, tonsillitis, postnasal drip.” If the physician doesn’t rule out any of the differential diagnoses, should the coder query for clarification or simply choose one of the differential diagnoses?
Q: Some of our providers see patients in our local nursing facilities. When these patients are admitted to our hospital, must we retain this documentation in our own records?
Q: How specific does the physician have to be for the location of the acute myocardial infarction (MI) in ICD-10-CM? We don’t do catheterizations at my facility .
Q: In ICD-9-CM, sprains and strains fall under the same codes. Will that also be the case in ICD-10-CM or are we going to report these injuries separately?
QUESTION: A physician admits a 30-year-old male with lower abdominal pain. A CT scan showed consistency with perforated appendicitis. However, the patient had an appendectomy 10 months prior. The physician documents "appendiceal stump syndrome." How should I code this case?
