Avoid Complications of Diabetes-Related Coding
Published on Tue Oct 14, 2003
America is being blinded by obesity Coding for eye diseases related to diabetes presents a chicken/egg conundrum for coders: Should they report the eye disease as the primary diagnosis or the diabetes that caused it? With new cases of diabetes skyrocketing, coders and physicians had better get up to speed.
A recent Duke University study found that age-related eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, increased significantly during the 1990s.
The study findings, published in the September issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, analyzed a national sample of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and older and recorded the incidence of diabetic retinitis, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.
During the study period, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus increased from 14.5 percent to 25.6 percent. Diabetic retinopathy cases among the 10,476 subjects increased from 6.9 percent to 17.4 percent.
The study concludes that "[t]he continued aging of the baby-boomer population will result in an even greater burden of eye disease in the United States than previous cross-sectional estimates indicated."
"This increased burden has important implications for the nation's public health, for resource allocation, and for the financing of vision care in the future. As more elderly individuals live longer, we may see a rise in the prevalence of chronic eye diseases that will significantly challenge our ability to provide care."
According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 17 million people in the United States, or 6.2 percent of the population, have diabetes. Six million don't know they have the disease.
More than 1 million people aged 20 years or older are diagnosed per year. Those numbers will jump as the average age of Americans increases in the decades to come. Diabetes Causes Blindness
Diabetes is a leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults 20-74 years old. Diabetic retinopathy causes from 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year.
Diabetic retinopathy is the most common eye disease related to diabetes. The National Eye Institute estimates that between 40 and 45 percent of those diagnosed with diabetes have some degree of diabetic retinopathy. Between 600,000 and 700,000 Americans have diabetic retinopathy severe enough to cause vision loss. As many as 24,000 people go blind from this disorder annually, making it a leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans.
Two important risk factors increase the likelihood of diabetic retinopathy:
1. Type of diabetes. People with type I diabetes are more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy than type II patients.
2. Duration of disease. Virtually everyone who has had type I diabetes for 15 years or more has some degree of diabetic retinopathy.
As dire as these numbers are, early detection and frequent diabetic screenings can preserve diabetics' sight. Diagnosis Coding the Diabetes When you are diagnosing a diabetic patient, the first [...]
You’ve reached your limit of free articles. Already a subscriber? Log in.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today to continue reading this article. Plus, you’ll get:
