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Primary Care Coding Alert

Diabetes Management:

Follow These Simple Steps to Successful Diabetes Coding

Published on Thu Apr 05, 2012

Tip: Focus on diabetic complications related to current episode of care.Choosing the correct diabetes diagnosis can seem quite complicated, thanks to factors such as your family physician seeing patients with more complex cases than in the past and their treating diabetic manifestations. Use these three steps for definitive diabetes diagnosis coding to ensure that your ICD-9 codes justify the services you bill.1. Select the Fourth Digit FirstYou'll begin code selection with diagnosis family 250.xx (Diabetes mellitus). Determine the fourth digit according to the type of diabetic complication the patient has, if any. Example: A patient presents with diabetic hypoglycemia. You should report 250.8 (Diabetes with other specified manifestations) as your first four digits. If, however, the patient presents with diabetes without any complications, your first four digits will be 250.0 (Diabetes mellitus without mention of complication).Take note: Diabetes patients might have more than one complication. If so, you should code only [...]
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