Wiki Chronic vs Acute.

[wynonna]

If unspecified, do we bill acute or chronic?
At what point does an illness become chronic?
I see hypertension and diabetes being billed and I think of them as chronic
Would you all agree?

 

[thomas7331]

Acute vs. chronic is a clinical judgment - it isn't based on a specific amount of time and can't be determined for coding purposes unless the provider has documented it. If unspecified, the ICD-10 code book will direct you to the correct code - many codes, for example, have chronic in parentheses in which case that term will not affect the code choice and will be the default when it is unspecified.

 

[wynonna]

Follow up for chronic on table of risk

So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as: Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
Any input from other coders would be helpful.
Thank you!

 

[daedolos]

So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as: Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
Any input from other coders would be helpful.
Thank you!

I would consider those two chronic conditions.

Peace
@_*
http://www.wvupc.com/compliance/icd10/PPT/DMHTNICD10.pdf

 

[amla12]

So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as: Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
Any input from other coders would be helpful.
Thank you!

Here is a definition. As a rule of thumb, the long-term daily medications a patient takes give a rough indication of their chronic diseases. Of course this would not include conditions they're not being medicated for - like obesity.