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Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

ICD-9 2010:

Benefit From New Nervousness Codes Using This Guide

Published on Mon Oct 04, 2010

You'll have better symptom descriptions thanks to 5 new fifth-digit codes. ICD-9 2010 brings several changes that will ease your reporting of frequently encountered dementia, Alzheimer's, and traumatic brain injury signs and symptoms. Use Fifth Digits on 'Nervousness' to Clarify Symptoms Adding a fifth digit to signs and symptom codes can be beneficial to neurology coders as some extant codes don't fit exactly to what the patient's chief complaint is, says Sandra Harris, CPC, CPC-H, with Hampton Roads Neurology in Newport News, Va. "We have many patients with dementia and Alzheimer's, and most of them come in because they are experiencing mood changes," Harris notes. As a result, you have to use another specified code. The patient may only be experiencing a behavior temporarily so diagnosis codes that can more precisely describe the patient's complaint are beneficial. The new codes are an extension of ICD-9 2009's code for nervousness (799.2), [...]
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