Don’t Forget a Cause Code for Burn Injuries
Question: I have a report for an encounter with a 12-year-old patient. The patient was making s’mores while camping, held the marshmallow stick above their face, and accidentally dropped the hot stick onto their face. The hot stick struck the right cheek and right eye. The patient suffered a corneal burn of the right eye and a first-degree burn of the right cheek. What diagnosis codes should I report? Minnesota Subscriber Answer: Assign T26.11XA (Burn of cornea and conjunctival sac, right eye, initial encounter) to report the corneal burn of the right eye. Next, you’ll use T20.16XA (Burn of first degree of forehead and cheek, initial encounter) to report the burn to the cheek. Both of these codes have a Use additional code instruction directing you to assign an applicable external cause code “to identify the source, place and intent of the burn.” In this case, use X03.4XXA (Hit by object due to controlled fire, not in building or structure, initial encounter) to report that the patient was hit by a hot stick while at a campfire. The parent code, X03.- (Exposure to controlled fire, not in building or structure), has an Includes note that lists “exposure to camp-fire” as the source of the injury. Mike Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Production Editor, AAPC
