Orthopedic Coding Alert
COVID-19, Arthritis Codes Coming This Fall
Here’s the conditions that’ll have expanded coding options in October. The ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee recently unveiled its list of diagnosis code additions, deletions, and revisions for 2021. Orthopedic coders will need to focus on the general and the specific in order to master the new and revised codes for 2021. Why? You’ll need to remember the general diagnosis coding rules for COVID-19, as all practices do; further, ICD-10 added several new ortho-specific codes — and revised others — for some new-look ICD-10 sections. Check out all the changes you’ll have to digest before October 1, 2020 — the start date for using the 2021 ICD-10 codes. Keep Using U07.1 for COVID-19 The most important addition to the 2021 ICD-10 code book is also the least surprising; in October, U07.1 (COVID-19) will be recorded in the ICD-10 manual. This is just a formality, however, as the code has been official since April. Experts were amazed at the quickness with which U07.1 was added to the ICD-10 rolls — but it made sense considering the unprecedented public health emergency (PHE) and the lack of an accurate diagnosis code for the situation. “The speed that the ICD-10-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee approved this new code is unprecedented,” said Betty Ann Price, BSN, RN, president and founder of Professional Reimbursement and Coding Strategies, and AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM trainer. “The new code, U07.1, was initially assigned by the World Health Organization. Usually it requires at least a one-year process to get a new code adopted, but this went through with exceptional speed.” The early adoption of U07.1 was necessary, however, to “fulfill the imperative need to track the diagnosis of this condition as well as its subsequent treatment,” explains Gregory Przybylski, MD, immediate past chairman of neuroscience and director of neurosurgery at the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. In the notes beneath U07.1, coders are instructed to use an additional code to “identify pneumonia or other manifestations.” There are also several Excludes1 diagnoses as well, such as: ‘A’ Option Added to These Arthritis Codes As for new diagnosis options for conditions relative specifically to orthopedics, ICD-10 is adding several codes with an “A” character to some of its sets in the Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99) Chapter. For instance, M05.7 (Rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor without organ or systems involvement) will add M05.7A (Rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor of other specified site without organ or systems involvement) to give you another fifth-character option for this condition. Also, M05.8 (Other rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor) will add M05.8A (Other rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor of other specified site). Other new codes from this set for 2021 include: ‘9’ Gets a Workout in These New Codes Just as with the addition of new fifth characters with the aforementioned codes, ICD-10 will add the fifth-character option of “9” or “A” to several other code sets. For example, ICD-10 will add M19.09 (Primary osteoarthritis, other specified site) to the M19.0 (Primary osteoarthritis of other joints) code set in October. Also, M19.1 (Post-traumatic osteoarthritis of other joints) will add M19.19 (Post-traumatic osteoarthritis, other specified site). Other new codes from this set for 2021 include: 
Orthopedic Coding Alert
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COVID-19, Arthritis Codes Coming This Fall
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