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Home Health & Hospice Week

Diagnosis Coding:

This Tip Gets You Closer to ICD-10 Compliance

Published on Thu Mar 24, 2011

Hint: Dig deep for specifics like unilateral, bilateral, and post-traumatic. You're going to have to put in some effort on learning ICD-10 now if you don't want major diagnosis coding headaches when the new system takes effect. When ICD-9 becomes ICD-10 in 2013, you will not always have a simple crosswalk relationship between old codes and new ones. Often, you'll have more options that may require tweaking the way you document services and a coder reports it. Check out the following example of how ICD-10 will change your coding options when the calendar turns to Oct. 1, 2013. Suppose a patient is diagnosed with osteoarthrosis (715.xx-716. xx). These codes specify location, primary, or secondary. ICD-10 difference: Once Oct. 1, 2013 rolls around, you should look to: M15 (Polyosteoarthritis) M16 (Osteoarthritis of hip) M17 (Osteoarthritis of knee) M18 (Osteoarthritis of first carpometacarpal joint) M19 (Other and unspecified osteoarthritis). These codes are [...]
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