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Primary Care Coding Alert

ICD-10:

Clarify Urosepsis Diagnosis Before Coding Under ICD-10

Published on Mon May 14, 2012

You won't find "urosepsis" terminology after October 2014.

If your physician notes the term "urosepsis" in a patient's chart, you may find yourself grappling with the question -- are you coding for a urinary tract infection (UTI) or a UTI with sepsis?

under ICD-9, that question doesn't hold as much bearing as in the future. Currently, you report 599.0 (Urinary tract infection, site not specified) for "urosepsis." According to ICD-9 guidelines, "The term urosepsis is a nonspecific term. If that is the only term documented then only code 599.0 should be assigned based on the default for the term in the ICD-9-CM index, in addition to the code for the causal organism if known."

Looking ahead: However, ICD-10 eliminates the term "urosepsis." The ICD-10 Manual includes a note to "code to condition," which means you must query the physician to determine [...]
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