Follow Documentation, Guidelines for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Question: I’ve been seeing paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (A.fib) diagnoses all over the place — far more than earlier in my coding career. I’m wondering whether it’s become a sort of catchall diagnosis and being reported too frequently. Should A. fib always be considered paroxysmal if the episodes are under seven days? AAPC Forum Participant Answer: As a coder, it’s crucial to code according to the clinician’s documentation. You can query the provider and ask for more details on the patient’s atrial fibrillation experience to make sure you’re selecting the best code to represent the patient’s condition. For example, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is generally defined as self-terminating, with an episode lasting less than seven days. If the clinician diagnoses a patient accordingly, a coder would report a diagnosis of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with ICD-10-CM code I48.0 (Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation). There may indeed be an increase in atrial fibrillation diagnoses. According to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), there are more Americans who have atrial fibrillation than previously estimated. One of the study’s authors mentioned how wearables like smart watches, which include components designed to detect atrial fibrillation, may show that the condition is even more prevalent than the study’s analysis suggests. Rachel Dorrell, MA, MS, CPC-A, CPPM, Production Editor, AAPC
