Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Don't miss 7th digit 'A', 'D', or 'S.'ICD-9 2012 changes the term "anaphylactic shock" to "anaphylactic reaction," but ICD-10 will change it back when you begin to use the new codes on Oct. 1, 2013. If your lab bills for transfusion medicine services, and the physician notes that the patient has an anaphylactic reaction due to the transfusion, you should report the diagnosis as 999.41 (Anaphylactic reaction due to administration of blood and blood products) or 999.49 (Anaphylactic reaction due to other serum) starting Oct. 1. That's instead of 999.4 (Anaphylactic shock due to serum), which becomes inactive for ICD-9 2012.But 999.41 will crosswalk to T80.5xx- (Anaphylactic shock due to serum) when ICD-10 goes into effect. Problem: Often, a patient will exhibit an anaphylactic reaction, but won't go into shock. Changing the code definition in ICD-9 2012 clarifies that the code is appropriate for anaphylactic reaction even if it doesn't [...]