Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Pay more attention to patient documentation to clinch the right location.When your physician sees a patient with an abscess causing pain in the anorectal region, you're used to reporting this one way in ICD-9. But you'll need the specifics that follow to report the right code when ICD-10 comes into effect on Oct.1, 2014.Focus on Symptoms and Diagnostic Details in DocumentationYour gastroenterologist will arrive at a diagnosis of anorectal abscess based on findings of history, signs and symptoms, examination, observational findings, imaging studies and laboratory findings. In certain cases, he might resort to other laboratory tests such as blood tests or a urinalysis. Your gastroenterologist might also want imaging studies such as an MRI, CT scan or an ultrasound, especially when the abscess is in the deeper areas of the rectum to arrive at a diagnosis of a rectal abscess.Some of the symptoms that you are more likely to see [...]