Wiki Coding Suspected Meningitis

[bnewport]

Two month old patient with fever s/p rule our sepsis evaluation with pretreated CSF and blood cultures, now undergoing 10-day course of IV ABX per ID recommendations.

(Patient initally evaluated at an ouside facility for fever. Urine culture was obtained and LP was attempted. Pt was placed on ABX. At another hospital facility blood culture was obtained as well as LP and CSF studies. Due to pretreated blood and CSF cultures, the patient is undergoing ABX treatment for a total of 10 days. He was admitted to our facility to complete the 10 days course of ABX)

My question is... as meningitis is only suspected, and sepsis has been ruled out, how do I code this? Is it okay to code the meningitis as he is receiving the IV antibiotics for that Dx?

Thank you for your input!

 

[cordelia]

Depends on who you are coding for. If you are an inpatient facility coder, yes, you can code the suspected meningitis. If you are coding for the professional/physician or outpatient facility, no, you can't code a suspected diagnosis and in lieu of a definitive diagnosis, would have to code symptoms.

Cordelia, CCS, CPC