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Inpatient Facility Coding & Compliance Alert

Reader Questions:

Nuchal Cord Diagnosis Leads to POA of W

Published on Fri Apr 20, 2012

Question: I assigned a POA indicator of Y to a case where the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck before delivery. Our in-house auditor flagged it as incorrect. What did I do wrong?
Answer: Cases involving nuchal cords – when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck – can be tricky to code. Although the provider might document a diagnosis of nuchal cord, no one knows exactly when it occurred (in-utero or at delivery). Because of this, the appropriate POA indicator for nuchal cord is W (Clinically undetermined). The associated diagnosis is 762.5 (Other compression of umbilical cord ).
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