Pulmonology Coding Alert

Don’t forget to take into account the number of conditions the code will represent. When you’re reporting a diagnosis of acute laryngitis after Oct.1, 2014, don’t forget to take into account the presence or absence of obstruction -- even though descriptor changes in ICD-10 don’t mention obstruction (as in ICD-9), you have two different code sets to take into account. Assign One Code for Several Types of Acute Laryngitis Diagnosis coding is simple in ICD-9 when your pulmonologist diagnoses acute laryngitis: If no obstruction is present, you assign 464.00 (Acute laryngitis; without mention of obstruction). The code applies to patients with several types of laryngitis, provided they don’t experience blockages of the passageway: Edematous laryngitis Hemophilus influenzae laryngitis Pneumococcal laryngitis Septic laryngitis Suppurative laryngitis Ulcerative laryngitis. The code also applies to acute laryngitis not otherwise specified. Look for Obstruction in ICD-10 Once ICD-10 goes into effect, you’ll use code J04.0 (Acute [...]