Home Health ICD-9/ICD-10 Alert

You Be The Coder:

Know Your Digits For MI

Question: Our new patient had a non-ST-elevation (NSTEMI) myocardial infarction two weeks ago. We are providing physical and occupational therapies to continue strengthening. He has not had any cardiac surgery but does have coronary artery disease (CAD), mild renal insufficiency, and anxiety. What codes would we use?

-- Wisconsin Subscriber

Answer: A myocardial infarction is considered acute for eight weeks after the infarction, so you would code this MI as an acute myocardial infarction with a code from category 410 (Acute myocardial infarction), says Lisa Selman-Holman, JD, BSN, RN, HCS-D, COS-C, consultant and principal of Selman-Holman & Associates in Denton, TX.

The fourth digit indicates the location of the infarction on the heart wall, Selman-Holman says. Code for a non-ST elevation MI with 410.7 (Subendocardial infarction).

The fifth digit for MIs in home care is always a "2", so your complete code is 410.72 (Subendocardial infarction; subsequent episode of care).

414.00 (Coronary artherosclerosis; of unspecified type of vessel, native or graft) is the default code for CAD.

Report mild renal insufficiency with 593.9 (Unspecified disorder of kidney and ureter).

Without any more specific information, code for the anxiety disorder with 300.00 (Anxiety state, unspecified).

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