Cardiology Coding Alert

Beware: You won't see identical ICD-9 and ICD-10 inclusion lists.When you code Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome under ICD-10, you might be surprised to see a code definition that doesn't match the one you know under ICD-9.ICD-9 code: WPW falls under 426.7 (Anomalous atrioventricular excitation) in ICD-9. Anomalous atrioventricular excitation is a heart rhythm disorder. In WPW, the patient has an extra electrical pathway which can cause rapid heart rate.Notes in ICD-9 tell you that 426.7 is appropriate for the following:Atrioventricular conduction: accelerated accessory pre-excitationVentricular pre-excitationWolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.ICD-10 code: When you start using ICD-10 in 2013, you'll find WPW listed under I45.6 (Pre-excitation syndrome).According to a note with I45.6, the code is appropriate for:Accelerated atrioventricular conductionAccessory atrioventricular conductionAnomalous atrioventricular excitationLown-Ganong-Levine syndromePre-excitation atrioventricular conductionWolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Note that ICD-10 includes Lown-Ganong-Levine syndrome in I45.6, the same code that applies to WPW and other pre-excitation syndromes. ICD-9 instead gives Lown-Ganong-Levine its own code (426.81, Lown-Ganong-Levine syndrome).Coder [...]