Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Tip: Watch for peritoneal involvement as in ICD-9 codes.Abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms that you will encounter in your gastroenterologist's practice. One common emergency reason for abdominal pain is acute appendicitis, so understanding how to report acute appendicitis will come in handy when ICD-10 go into effect. When your gastroenterologist makes a diagnosis of acute appendicitis, you will probably see the following details in the documentation:Symptoms such as abdominal pain (R10.31, Right lower quadrant pain), that is often in the right lower quadrant although this may vary in some patients, and anorexia (R63.0, Anorexia). Some of the other symptoms that your gastroenterologist might note in the documentation might include nausea, vomiting (R11.2, Nausea and vomiting), diarrhea (R19.7, Diarrhea, unspecified) and constipation (R15.0, Incomplete defecation).Based on the signs and symptoms, if your gastroenterologist suspects a diagnosis of acute appendicitis, he might order many tests to confirm the [...]