Wiki Cachexia vs Underweight

[dillerisev]

Hi there, I'm a CPC-A one month into my first coding job. Time to ask some questions!

I have a provider who sometimes documents "underweight" as an official diagnosis, but underneath that and throughout the note describes "cachexia". I also have the BMI available to code.

Am I able to code Cachexia (R64), as it's a stronger term (in my understanding) than Underweight (R63.3)? Also, in either case, can I code the appropriate BMI (Z68.-)?

Thank you!

 

[Motherofdestiny]

Hi,

No you can't because "underweight" ICD 10- is R36.6 he has to reference cachexia in reference to the patient but if he's referencing underweight when talking about the patient cachexia can't be used. Ask yourself is he mentioning cachexia when talking about the patient. Example: the patient is cachexia and to code BMI it should be over 35 to code and a mention of some kind of obesity somewhere in the note and since the patient is underweight the BMI probably is not useful