Wiki Atrial fibrillation of unknown duration

[heartyoga]

Doctor documented that patient has newly detected atrial fibrillation of unknown duration. He circled superbill dx as persistent.

Our coder insisted that since it is unknown duration it should be coded as unspecified.

Which is correct?

Thanks!

 

[heartyoga]

The afib codes are really confusing. The physician has explained that the terms used in communication among healthcare providers may sometimes not be exact to the terms used in the coding books (which our coder insists on documenting exact words from coding book).