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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

News Brief :

Start Using New Swine Flu Code Oct. 1

Published on Sat Jul 25, 2009

Capture flu data with ICD-9 addendum. When your lab identifies a patient who tests positive for the H1N1 influenza virus, physicians will have a new ICD-9 code to report the diagnosis. ICD-9 addenda were posted June 2, 2009, to the National Center for Health Statistics Web site. The addenda provide new codes to ensure accurate tracking for newly identified cases of swine flu. You can find the addenda at www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/ftpserv/ftpicd9/icdidx10add.pdf. Change Expands 488 The modification revises 488 (Influenza due to identified avian influenza virus) to encompass other specified viruses. Now you'll need to report other specified viruses using a fourth digit by selecting the appropriate code from the following choices: • 488.0 -- Influenza due to identified avian influenza virus • 488.1 -- Influenza due to identified novel H1N1 influenza virus. The change is effective Oct. 1.
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